Hetalia Headquarters
by littlecleocat
Summary: Set in 2025 after www3, a group of young teens grows in numbers and learns about their messed up society from second and first hand experience. The main pov's are fem!Canada and Fem!Italy, and most of the countries will be included eventually.(btw It begins with more of the romance side)
1. Chapter 1

This is from the point of view from fem!Canada at the moment. The next will be from fem!Italy, and I have 10 chapters already written, just editing and uploading, so I will update regularly and frequently. I hope it's not to long!

enjoy :)

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Chapter one:

I was walking down my street, when I realized that I had money. I don't EVER have money. It's because this girl, my supposed best friend Abby, always snatched it away before I could buy lunch. Nowadays I don't even bother to go to lunch anymore, I just go straight to the library.

She's not the only one who's mean however. My parents don't really care about me; they just do what they want. My mom inherited all her parents money when they died and now we're wealthy. That's why my parents don't need jobs with the government like everyone else. My mom just sits around making plans to go on trips that she never actually goes on, there isn't anywhere to go anyway.

My dad stays in the garage making things, such as cabinets or chairs out of wood because it's his "hobby". I bet he doesn't even know he has a kid any more. Well, he did at one time, but got to busy with his projects, and forgot. The only thing they give me is a room and clothes whenever my mom feels like shopping. I even have to get my lunch money from my maid!

I always have that lunch money that our maid, Ms. Smith, puts in my coat pocket as she pushes me out the door each morning. Abby usually takes it by the time I get to the last step.

It is still early October, and Abby hasn't been sick yet this year, until today. I was so grateful to be rid of her in my classes, that I forgot that I could go to lunch. Even if I did remember to go, I might not even know were it is, because it would be the first time going there in the high school, because I'm now in 9th grade.

Since I have money, I decide to take this chance to walk over to the local convenience store, and buy something, because I know I won't be getting dinner when I get back. I am just leaving Abby's house after bringing her homework and finishing it for her. I am used to doing it, but I had to stay later and take care of all her needs until she fell asleep. Her parents never notice how much of a bully she is to me, because they are usually out looking for their beloved son, Peter. It's about 7:00, but I'm not sure, because I had to give Abby my watch last week.

When I go in the bells jingle and I have this over whelming feeling of happiness. I've never been able to do this before. I go up and down the rows of things that I wish I could have. I know I will most likely just buy some food, but I find that I like looking at the stuff in here. I glance up at the clock, and realize that it's closing time. I hurry up a choose a bottle of chocolate milk for 99 cents, a lollipop for 50 cents, and a bag of chips for $1.50, as a total of about $3.00, which is the total I get for lunch money.

I quickly buy it, and go out side to sit on the steps and eat. I know it's late, but I don't care. I never believed those stories of getting kidnapped or getting mugged. They wouldn't happen in this small town anyway.

When I finished, the store is closed down and it's dark out. I know that the short way would be to go back past Abby's house, but I have this bad feeling inside. I was thinking while I was eating that I could have done this every day, if not for her. I could have had a great life and friends, but she always pushes them away. I could be normal, maybe. There still is doubt in my head, what if it isn't her, but me? Do I deserve this?

I was thinking about this as I walked along, dropping my bottle and wrappers in a trash can. When I look up I realize that I went the other way, and was not exactly sure were I was, but I recognized a house, so I must not be far off.

I keep walking and wallowing in self-pity. I look up again, and realize where I am. I am by the old gas station that closed down last year. It's at the edge of town by the woods so I'm not to far from where I live. All I have to do now is go up the hill. I walk forward, keeping my head down as I pass under a streetlight, until I reach the road that goes up the hill. That is when I hear something. I walk a bit more, and hear it again, like a yelping sound. I look around.

Then I see it. It's a dog that has its collar stuck on a prickly bush. I drop my backpack, which I still had from after school, on the ground. I stumble over to the puppy. I find that it is a golden retriever. Its neck is all scraped up from trying to free itself. I unclip the collar, pull up my shirt a little to tear my undershirt into a bandage strip that I wrap around the wound. The dog whimpers and I look around for the home it may have been from. I notice that there is a guy over by the station. I try to forget about him, and try to console the dog. I pick it up, and pet its golden fur, and tell it that it will be ok.

I stand up and walk in the direction were I dropped my bag, without taking my eyes off the dog but when I do I look down, and my bags not there. I look around and I don't see it. I walk back over to the side of the road were the prickly bush was, not there. I hear a dull thud. I turn, the guy about 10 feet away, is standing next to my bag.

I don't think it's the best idea, but I walk over to him, taking in his apperence as I go. He is wearing a black pull over hoodie, faded black jeans, and beat up black converse. He has his hood on, so I can't se his face, but I see white hair coming from the darkness.

I look up at his face, I didn't notice how tall he was before, but he must be like 6 feet tall at least. I slowed my pace a stopped about 4 feet away from him.

"That's m-my bag." I stuttered out quickly.

He pulls down his hood so I can see his bleach blonde, nearly white hair. He looked down his long, pale nose at me with his crimson eyes. Those eyes scare me but I can detect something some thing in them I can't understand, as if he had a secret. His mouth was curved down at the corners into a frown.

"That's my bag." he replied with a slight German accent.

I took a step back, "O-ok-k-ay, it's your bag then. S-sorry, m-my mistake. I'll be g-going now." I turned, glad to get away, and started walking up the street with the dog clutched to my chest.

Then I realized what the look in his eyes was. Sadness. I saw it often; whenever I looked in a mirror. I always have that same sad look in my purplish blue eyes when I check my reflection. When I see the sadness in my eyes, and try to distract my self with my other features. I have long wavy blonde hair that I part above my left eye. My face is round and pale but can turn quite pink at times. I am tall, 5' 8" maybe, and slender. I try to forget about sadness when I think about everything else about me, but I can't. Sadness is pain, and it's hard to forget about something that hurts 24-7.

I looked back, he was still looking at me, and I made a split second decision. I walk back to him.

I took a short breath before I said, "Actually, that's my bag, and I, um," my voice faltered, "I would like it back now, please." He looked a bit surprised, yet pleased in a way, like it's nice to have someone contradict him for once.

"You stood up for your self, wow, I though I was scarier than that." he replied, with a hint of sarcasm in his words.

I didn't think, I just spoke, "You don't look scary," I paused, because he sort of does, then continued, "you look, sad. Are you okay?"

I could tell by the look on his face, that that as not what he thought I would say. He looked almost sadder now. He ducked his head and didn't reply, this made me want to find out even more, and help. I didn't want to go home anyway, I could help him. Helping seems to be all I do anyway. I would help my maid clean, and help teacher with grading. In a way, I help Abby get all her anger out, though, not by choice.

"Really, are you okay? Is there anything I could do to help, I'm serious." I really wanted to help, I don't know why, but I felt as if he was in pain, and it was a type of pain that I could understand. He leaned back against the abandoned stations wall, and slid down. I kept waiting for an answer. I heard a small sob escape him and I knew he was crying. He looked up at me; he didn't seem scary anymore, more like a lost kid.

"What could you do any way? You don't know what I've gone through, you don't understand, just, just go away," he said this trying to make me leave, but it did just the opposite. I turned around and sat down next to him. I wasn't afraid any more, though, my conscious said I should be.

"How could I know what you went through unless you tell me, I'll listen. I can help you know, you're not the only one who feels pain. I have my own troubles. I will help, no matter what." I knew that I couldn't do some things to help, but I could try right? "I'm Ma..." I paused I didn't want to be called Madeline anymore, it was to formal, not this new brave me, "I'm Mattie. What's your name?"

He looked at me like I was crazy, which I was, so I didn't mind. He wiped away his tears, and turned to look me in the eyes. "I'm Gilbert. You don't have to be nice to me, no one else is. It would be better for you if you just leave. Now." he said, in what I suppose that he thought was a forceful voice, but really was more like a shaky, half-hearted plea.

"Well Gilbert, I think that you need help, so I do have to be nice to you. Anyway I don't want to go home, ever, so I'm not leaving." I felt so brave just then, I didn't know I had this in me, "I'll be you friend, I promise."

He was still looking at me carefully, as if he didn't believe me, but I felt that I was helping, he wasn't crying anymore. "Why don't you want to go home, and why do you want to be my friend, you could probably be friends with anyone else." he asked, with some jealously hidden within those words.

"I don't want to go home, because I have a horrible life, and I don't have any friends, well, except this dog I just found. And I will be your friend, if you want." I feel like I should emphasize the, "if you want", part, so he'll answer me.

"I had a horrible life once, and didn't want to go home," he mumbled then paused, "I-I do want to be your... friend." I could tell he isn't used to saying that word. "I have a few other friends, I guess, that don't want to go home," his voice was considerably happier, almost like a little kid wanting to show off, "They would be happy to have a new... friend, too."

"Sure, How many friends do you have? Where are they? Will they allow the dog?" I had some more questions, since I am going with a scary guy, to an unknown location to meet strangers at night, and not to mention running away from home. I didn't ask those questions though, in case my new friend Gilbert would be offended.

"I have six friends, and I'm sure they would love the dog. Follow me!" he stood up and took my hand to pull me up. "Oh, and sorry about the bag, it was just a good chance for us to get more supplies. We don't have much of any thing." he handed me my bag.

"Thanks. Wait, were are we going?" I didn't know how far we would have to walk, and it started to rain while we were talking.

"Oh, yeah, we're already here, my friend Yao's dad worked at the gas company, so he gave this land to him. He ran away too, but his dad caught him, and was like "I can't have my son live on the streets! Here's some land.", cool right? But we don't want to look suspicious, so we keep it boarded up." He said as he pulled me along.

"We named our group Hetalia a little while back, so this place we call the Hetalia headquarters or once in a while the Hetalia hideout." He continued, "It's just a made up word, but I think it fits us somehow."

He took out a key from his pocket and unlocked the back door. I hadn't noticed before, but there was an extensive garden back here and a cloths line with a few articles of clothing on it hanging there getting soaked.

He was still holding my hand and I noticed it was cold. He must have been out there a long time. My hand was warm so I held on tighter to warm his up as he led me inside. He closed the door behind me, which closed with a loud click.

Inside, It still looked a bit like a gas station store, with the cash register, and fridges along the far side. The difference was that the ground was carpeted, and there was an old fold worn out couch in front of an old TV set. There was trash and yard-sale-type things strewed about the place.

I looked a bit more closely at the couch, there was a skinny kid with oddly large eye brows sleeping it, and someone on the other side who I couldn't see because of the massive amount of blankets piled around the small figure.

"That's Arthur and Peter; they are the youngsters who go to bed before 11:00, they came here together, but Arthur doesn't seem as fond of Peter as Peter is of Arthur. They also have big temper, so I wouldn't wake them up. Lets go meet the others. He seemed to be in a much better mood, and I no longer could see a trace of scary on his face. He was actually quite handsome, but I shouldn't be thinking things like that, but he was still holding my hand!

"Okay... lets go meet your friends." I said.

"They are your friends too, now that you're mine." He said as he pulled me down the steps. I couldn't help but notice that he said that, "your mine" not, "I am your friend", there's a difference, isn't there?

"Hey guys! We have a new friend! Look! Look! Look! Isn't she Aesome?" he was almost jumping, and he was shaking my arm up and down.

"Ah, I'm, um, Mattie." I said to the awkward silence that greeted me.

There were four guys sitting on couches and there was stuff… everywhere. I don't think that I could walk through it with out falling and getting sucked into it.

Even worse, they were all shirtless, and I knew of them all from my school. There was a search party for one guy, I think that guy was named Francis, he was sitting on the couch next to my right. He was a medium height, almost feminine guy with shoulder length blonde wavy hair. I had to admit he was handsome, but I didn't think too much about it. I think he was the son of some famous cook. I remember he used to be in my 7th grade English class, and would always be flirting.

Francis was on the couch next to Alfred. Alfred was sort of chubby, with blonde hair, and pink cheeks. He was in my gym class once, and all the guys made fun of him for being fat. He was a good football player though, the weight was on his side, but only then I suppose. I always felt bad about that day I saw the guys making fun of him, but Abby was there so there was nothing I could do to help.

I remember that he was more like C student, but he always did volunteer work at the fire station so he could be a hero. He disappeared one day last year and the news reporters found a bunch of suicidal poems in his room. They said that he probably ran away and killed himself.

In the newspaper that had the article about him, it had a quote from his mom, "I don't care were he is as long as never comes back." It was the meanest thing I had ever read. I ripped up the paper, and threw it away in tears. Now that I think about it, his mom reminds me of mine.

Yao and Ivan sat on the couch across from Alfred. Yao was Chinese, with long black braided hair. Before he disappeared one day, he had the highest grades in the school, and came from a rich family that worked for the government at a higher level than everyone else. No one thought he could disappear so easily.

I remember Ivan; he was not one you forget. He was, maybe 6 feet four, with platinum blonde hair. He was the kind of guy who could threaten to torture your whole family with an innocent smile on his face.

He was an only child of a drunken dad. His dad was found dead, and he was gone, so they thought he was to blame. I knew it sounded right, but I think he loved his dad. He probably just fled the scene because he didn't know what else to do. Well, that's what I hope anyway... I wonder how they all got here?

"Nice to, um, be here." I said it more as a question than a statement. None of them spoke. I felt so weird being the only girl. I wondered, not for the first time, if this is a good idea.

"Come on guys, be nice, she didn't have any friends until now, just like us. She talked to me even though I looked scary. She stood up to me and it was awesome." he said as if it was the most amazing thing in the world, which, to him it might be. "Liz, this is, Yao, Alfred , Ivan and Francis," he said as he pointed then out.

I wasn't sure if it was the best thing to say but I said it any way, "I already know who they are, Gilbert, they go to, or at least went to, my school. They are the ones who don't know me."

"Wait," said Ivan in his Russian accent, "You know who we are? Why are you here? Hey, Gilbert what's going on, who is this girl?"

"This girl is our new friend, and your new friend, so be nice. She said she could tell I was sad, and wanted to help. She could help you too." Gilbert said in a matter of fact tone.

"How can she help? She's nothing special."

"What do you mean not special? Of course she is," he said, as he went behind me and gave me a hug with one arm and pointed to the bandaged dog with the other, "she saved this dog, by ripping up her shirt, and she gave me her bag, and said she would help me!" I felt so awkward with his hands on me, and his chest against my back. I could tell I was getting pink, and they were all staring at me.

"You only brought her here because you want to become one with her, da?" I van said.

"Love, it's the only explanation." Yao agreed.

"Ah... well... whatever!" he said releasing me, "at least I show it, unlike you two!" I realized two things from that, Ivan, and Yao are a couple, which I didn't mind, and that he likes me. I didn't know what to say, but I didn't have to say anything.

"That's mean, don't do that." said Alfred, "you know that's why they came here in the first place."

"Well they don't have to tease me either," he said, and I looked at him, and he looked away, but I'm sure he was blushing as much as I was.

"Well, today is your day to get us money for tomorrow, and I bet you didn't get anything again, am I right? You just got us another person we have to feed and shelter, thanks a lot," said Yao. I got the impression that this has happened a lot before.

"Well, I can go home, an get some money, if you need it. My parents probably wouldn't notice. They don't seem to notice anything, ever." I said with a sigh, "I could also get some other stuff you might need. I could bring a bag of cloths too, if you could let me stay here. I will be really helpful, I'll do the laundry, and sweep, and cook, or whatever else you need, I promise, just let me stay here... please." I sat down on the last step, and put my head on my arms that were resting on my knees, so they couldn't see my face. I was determined not to cry. They were a bit stunned, but snapped out of it quickly.

"It would be really helpful to have a maid," said Francis, who was looking around at all the mess.

"And she could get us some money for food." said Alfred, who obviously liked food.

"She's not that bad, looks like she accepts us too." Said Ivan, making Yao blush.

"Well I think that she will be good for Gilbert, so you can stay Mattie . We'll be you friends, right?" said Francis, everyone else nodded, and Alfred smiled.

"R-really? I can stay? And you are my... friends?" I asked to make sure I was hearing correctly.

"Yeah, of course they are!" Gilbert said to me, "Now, why don't you and me go back to you house to get you stuff. How far is it?" they were being so nice, and I had started to cry, but I don't know when. A surge of happiness swelled up inside me, I couldn't stop myself, and I threw my arms around Gilbert and hugged him (after putting the dog down). I saw Francis smirk from the corner of my eye, but I didn't care, I had friends.

"Ah, yeah... lets go get you stuff then, Ok?" he said, he was blushing again. I nodded, and wiped away my tears.

"Can you guys look after the dog while we are out? Oh, and try to think up a good name for him." I said to no one in particular, as we climbed the steps, I heard some one shout "Okay!" but I could tell it was Alfred.

When we got outside it had stopped raining. There were small puddles of water everywhere, and the starry sky reflected off of them. The clouds were almost gone too. I was a bit chilly though, then I realized Gilbert was holding my hand again, but I didn't feel like letting go. What should I say to him? I know I should say something, but what?

"So, how far to your house?" Said Gilbert, his voice seemed loud, now that we were outside, and everything was quiet.

"Just go up this hill here, my place is at the top." I was going to stop there, but I need to fill the silence, "So, what kind of stuff do you need?" I asked.

"Oh, not to much, but just some house hold things like, I don't know, stuff, and of course some money for food, or maybe you could just bring some food too, I don't know what they would want, but whatever you have is fine I'm sure..." he was jus babbling on and on then I got an idea.

"Well of course because today is Friday, we can come back Saturday and Sunday, to get more stuff, before mom realizes I'm gone. I could get stuff on Monday too, but only if I go to school, which I guess I won't be doing anymore." I said.

"Well, if you want to go to school you can, but I don't suggest it. I haven't gone since 5th grade, so-" He couldn't go on because I interrupted.

"You haven't gone to school since 5th grade!" I can't imagine that, "How? Why? Wh-" This time it was his time to interrupt.

"Well, I ran away from home the summer between 5thand 6th grade, because I just couldn't stand it anymore. I always looked scary, I guess, so no one would talk to me. I had no friends, and even my mom was scared of me. She was my only relative, but she rarely talked to me. I came here, to the abandoned station. Yao hadn't come yet but it was convenient. Yao came next, and he agreed to let me stay with him, since I was already here. After a while we found Alfred living on the streets and he joined up. Ivan came, and Yao fell for him, so of course he let him stay." He chuckled, and then continued.

"If you haven't noticed they're kind of a couple, but we don't care. It's just odd, because all they do is sleep on the same couch, not anything very couple-ish has happened that I know of. Then England came with Peter, because Yao found them last year in a beat up tent on the side of the river. Recently, Francis came, and he knew Yao from before, so it was okay. We are like brothers, but they always try to make me the leader who has to choose stuff and it can be annoying." he sighed. "Now your here, you are the only girl, but I think it will be okay. They will just have to learn to wear more clothes. They don't always wear pants to bed, so watch out," he laughed when he saw my face. I laughed too.

Now that he was done talking I couldn't wait any longer, "So, what did you mean back there, ah, about, um, liking me?" I asked, not sure how he was going to reply.

He blushed again, "I meant that I, well, no one has ever said anything like that to me, no one has wanted to be my friend, ever, and I, uh, well, like... you a lot, and" He said, stumbling over all his words. I knew what he wanted to say. I stopped and turned so I was facing him, and took his other hand. I wanted to be brave all my life, so I decided that here, I will be.

I looked into his eyes and said, "I know you like me,"

"Uh, well yeah..." he said, blushing, but not looking away anymore.

"I like you too, so it's okay. I haven't had anyone like me before, but I like you back and I want to be with you." I leaned in and hugged him. What was I doing! I just met him! I feel so stupid, but still... my heart just won't stop pounding.

"I want to be with you too..." he breathed in my ear as he hugged me back.

I looked up at him, "Do you... want, um" I can't believe I'm saying this but, "Be my boyfriend?" I said quickly, and then looked down feeling embarrassed beyond belief.

He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, so I had to look at him. He was smiling, smiling! Then I leaned in closer, and he bent down, and right there, at about midnight, on top of the hill, we kissed.

I didn't want to let go, but then a car came, illuminating us with its headlights. He pulled me to the curb, to be hidden by the darkness, since there are no streetlights here or anywhere all the way down the street. I was so surprised, that I fell on top of him as we toppled to the ground. I smiled, and I kissed him and he kissed back. We only stopped this time, so we could catch our breath. We were both smiling like maniacs.

"We should get going, so the maid doesn't fall asleep before we get there." I say, though I don't want to move.

"Oh, then lets go!" he said as he pulled me up from the damp grass. We walked the rest of the way with smiles on our faces. This felt like a dream, like if I let go of him, he will disappear, and I will wake up. But, this wasn't a dream, I could tell because I could feel his body heat next to me.

When we got to my front steps, I pulled him up them and dragged him as quietly as I could, up to my room. When we get there I rummaged around in my closet and took out some travel bags mom bought for me, but I never used.

"See that dresser," I pointed to the dresser in the corner of my small cramped room, "take out everything in it and put it in these bags, okay, and put in the stuff on top of the dresser while you're at it. I'm going to find Ms. Smith, she will help find the other stuff we need." Then I ran out of the room, and down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Where have you been Madeline! I was worried sick!" scolded Mrs. Smith.

"I'm found a place to live, and I'm going tonight! Don't try to stop me, or tell mom, just help me find stuff that you need to live in a house of eight people!"

"Well... I'm not sure, this doesn't sound like good idea, but I'll help if I must. At least tell me who's house you're staying at, is it Abbey's?." she replied in a cautious tone.

"I'm not staying at a house, I'm staying at that old gas station, Yao owns it, he's Gilbert's friend, and Gilbert is my friend. There are five other guys too. They're all so nice! Especially Gilbert, we're dating, can you believe it!" I was so exited, that I couldn't contain myself.

"Wait, wait a moment, your living at a gas station with a bunch of guys! Who is this 'Gilbert'? This is all crazy anyway, I'm not sure I can let you do this, you should just go back up stairs, and go to bed." she said, sounding quite worried.

"Well," I giggled, "you can go up stairs and meet Gilbert now, he's packing my clothes. You can't stop me from going." I said smugly.

"How'd he get there? Oh, well, it doesn't mater, let me meet him first." she said, defeated.

"Start packing supplies!" I ordered excitedly before I ran up the stairs.

When I opened the door, it looked like he was done, because, he was sitting on my bed, not packing. "Done?" I asked.

"Well," he blushed, "almost, I just, um, didn't do the second drawer on the left."

M face went pink, that was my underclothing drawer, "Oh, uh, well, I'll do that." I said, embarrassed that he saw them, nothing I could do about it now.

"Well," I said when I was done, "Mrs. Smith wants to meet you, are you okay with that?" I asked

"Yeah, sure, why wouldn't I?" he replied, though I could tell he was nervous. "I'll help you carry this down, right?" he said, and I nodded back.

"This is Gilbert!" I said, indicating Gilbert, who stood awkwardly at my side in the middle of the kitchen, as our maid looked him up and down.

"He's to old for you" she finally said.

"I actually just turned fifteen two months ago" he said in defense.

"Oh, well then, your just too tall, but that's good, because you can protect Madeline from harm then." she said with a wave of her hand. "Here, take this. It has a lot of things you might need, including a bunch of food, and a microwave."

"Really! A microwave! Thanks! We've always wanted a microwave! You're awesome!" Gilbert said, and gave her a big hug.

"Oh my, well, you can come tomorrow, and I'll have more supplies ready for you." she said, rather flustered, yet pleased.

"Okay! We'll, see you!" he yelled over his shoulder as he took my hand, and ran out the door, with the luggage.

"She seemed to like you, that's good." I told him.

"Yeah, I like her too! She didn't say I was scary, or anything mean!" he practically shouted.

"No need to yell" I said, and giggled before leaning in to kiss him. Then with out another word we walked the rest of the way back in a happy silence.


	2. Chapter 2

I was going to have this from Felicia's point of view, but I changed it around, the next will be from her view point though :) enjoy

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Chapter 2:

I am Ludwig. I live on a street full of new houses with happy families in each and every one, well all but mine, of course. My house is at the very end of the street that leads off to another road, a dirt road. This is where the people like me lived. They lived in there old homes that crumbled more and more each day.

This road was blocked from the view of the rich by an elaborate stonewall. Yet, my hose was still visible, and this enraged the neighbors. They wanted their suburb to be perfect. "Perfect" never seemed to include me.

The bus would stop at the end of my street, and all the well dressed kids would get off. Then I would stumble off at the end. I would pass the enormous Victorian houses, with their trimmed lawns. I would gaze at them, and admire them. I'm interested in architecture, so I always liked how they looked, even if I knew I never could live in a place like that.

It had been going on like this for years, because of the war, nothing was changing or getting done. If a house burned down it wouldn't be re-built useless the owner was wealthy. That's why all these houses, no matter how magnificent, made me sad. That money could have been going to something more important, like my brothers and sisters dinners.

The only reason these people had so much money was that they where working for the government. Working in the government was basically the only well paying job nowadays. The fathers mostly worked 24-7, and their families lived in luxury. Were as I live in a one story, un-insulated condo. It is a two bed one bath, and accommodates a family of seven.

My parents, Sue and John, share a room with my youngest brother Maxwell. He just turned six, and can still fit in bed with them. My younger sisters are twins, Jade and Courtney share they fold out couch in the living room that has been converted into a bed room by way of many cardboard boxes stacked up to make a wall. There is a thin blue sheet that is draped over the opening for privacy. They still have enough room for there things, because they are still in third grade.

I am left to share a room with my brother, Brandon. He is in 6th grade, and has the top bunk. He is a good kid, but he has a few problems. He has insomnia, and can never seem to sleep. If he tries, he has to have the lights on, and it keeps me up. If he does fall asleep, then he has nightmares, and I have to calm him down. I'm just mediocre with kids and animals, but I like them so I try my best. It usually end up like it did last night.

"You aren't going to turn the light off, right?" whimpered Brandon.

"You know I never would." I say, as I pet his hair, and kiss his forehead, "Good night, maybe you won't have nightmares tonight, so just try closing your eyes and clearing you mind, okay?"

"It never works." he mumbled into his pillow, but despite his attitude, he turned over and faced the wall.

"It will work some day." I say, but mostly to myself. I get in bed, and try to fall asleep. The bright light above me keeps me up. I can see the light making weird shadows. I never did like he dark, but I can't get to sleep well if there is a light on all the time.

I shiver; its getting closer to winter, and this house has no heating. I go through this every year, the cold winds blowing through the walls and windows, letting that cold slowly creep into my bed. A chill runs through my frame, at the same time I realize I haven't heard a shift from up above in a while. I think he's asleep… I think. I check the clock, only 11:30. Good. Sometimes I am up until two a.m.

When I wake up, it's from a strangled cry; now it's ten past two. Getting up from my bed I see Brandon at the foot of his bed sobbing. He had another nightmare.

"Shhhh" I say as I crawl up onto the top bunk. I try to console him, until I fall asleep, even though he stays awake.

The next morning I wake up and Brandon looks like he is actually asleep. I inch myself off the edge of the bed, being careful not to fall, and sit on my bed thinking about the only happy part of my dismal life. Felicia.

She is the only one on this street that ever talks to me. She takes the same bus as me to school and she's in all my classes. She is yet another one of the people who is only in honors because of her parents money, but I don't care. I consider her my friend, my one and only friend. She probably would consider me a classmate, not a friend. She has enough friends already, no place for me.

We walk and talk as we go to the bus every morning. When she's at my side, I don't feel as left out as I did before. She just moved here this year, and may not have been told to stay away from me yet. It is only October after all. Even if she has, she either forgot, or doesn't care. Her nature is to be friendly to anyone and everyone she comes in contact with.

I am in high school now, and take the earliest bus. I get changed in to my school clothes, and eat half a peanut butter bagel as I leave. I am already late. I plan to run ahead to catch up with Feliciano because he leaves fairly early. When I start to look for him up the street, I don't see her. No! I may have missed my chance to walk with her today! I begin to speed up my pace, even knowing that I wouldn't be fast enough to catch up to her if she's out of eye sight.

As I pass Felicia's house I stop and look up at it, I already know I am to late to meet up with her. Felicia's house is a three-story pine green house with a white wrap around staircase sitting on the hill. I wish I could live in such a fine house, and get as far away as possible from my life at home.

Just then the door opened, and out came Felicia. The Felicia that came down the front steps was not one that I could recognize. Her clothes were the same clothes as the day before, but with more wrinkles. Her backpack looked extremely heavy and was on only on her right slumped shoulder. She was walking slower than usual, and looking at the ground so I couldn't see her face. I stood there, frozen, wondering were my usual, happy, and cheerful Felicia could have gone.

She looked up, I could see bags under her eyes, and the left one was swollen, black and blue. As soon as they met with mine, they opened wide, as did her mouth. It looked as if she couldn't talk for a second before she found her voice.

"You... waited for me? To... walk with you to the bus?" she said there was surprise evident in her words.

"Well, yeah. We usually walk to the bus together, because we're friends, right..." I said before I realized that she might not think of me as a friend.

"Friends." she repeated, as if she didn't quite understand its meaning.

"Ja, well we only have to be friends if you want to be. I don't want to force you or something, but just walking with you to the bus is fine too." I fell like an idiot, but I can't think about what I'm saying because I'm thinking about what could have happened to her.

"No. I want to be friends. I didn't think I had any, but I guess... I do now." at her last words she smiled.

She looked almost as happy as before, but all to soon it had faded off her face. I couldn't think of anything for a second, then I realized that she had dropped his bag, and sat down on the steps. Her face was in her hands. I never thought something like this could happen, but it was, right here in front of my eyes. I sat down to his right, the side closer to my house, and his garage. I put my bag in front of my feet.

"Well, as you said, I am your friend, so shouldn't you tell me what happened to you, I mean I've never seen you like this, I really don't think you should go to school." I say, I am worrying about her health, how could she have gotten into this state?

She looked up at me with her sorrowful eyes, "I don't think I should got to school either, I wasn't planning on going ever again truthfully." when she said that, I realized what she was doing, she wasn't late for school, she was going to run away for what reason, I don't know.

"You're running away? Why? Tell me what happened!" I was getting frustrated.

"Well, since you are now my only friend, I can tell you but not here, and not now. The office will tell my parents of my absence soon, so we must hurry." she said in her new and less cheerful voice, picking up what I now realized was an extremely heavy bag, not her usual one either. Then she started to walk away.

"Wait, if you are serious about leaving, do you know were you are going to go? What you're going to eat? Should I come?" I ask, catching up with her, and stopping her now in front of my house.

"I don't know were I'm going, but I have money, and lots of it, and a credit card too. I have some food and clothes and other stuff. As for if you should come, you don't have to, unless you want to hear my story, but you can't go back if I tell you what I know. You got it?" she said firmly.

"Well of course I want to know the story but I can't just abandon my family! I don't have any clothes of food either! How can I go?"

"You can go back now and get what you need, I'll wait by, uh, that tree" she said pointing, "if you're not out in ten minutes I'll... leave." she didn't sound like she meant it, but she went over to the tree, and stood in its cover.

I rushed to my door, and quietly crept in. they don't need to get up for another half an hour. I go in my room and pack a small duffle, as well as my backpack with things that may be useful. Brandon's most likely in the kitchen, so I make a show of being late for school, and grab some stuff. Brandon is always so sleep deprived that he can't do very much, and doesn't notice anything strange about my act. I run out he door, and meet Felicia by the tree.

"I'm ready, I think." I say out of breath

She is smiling again, like she used to, "Me to." she said.

We walked down the dirt road. On the other side of the stonewall, goes to school, and there are no people out, or any stores around. It is like a whole new world. I was never allowed to venture off this way, but have always wanted to, but never had the chance until now. We wander around, seeing no one, and hearing nothing. The houses are getting sparse, and the forest gets thicker as we walk. Our feet leave a trail through the brown leaves. I glance back and can see we have gone for a while.

"When are you going to tell me what happened?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Later."

"I think we should find a place to stay." I add.

"You think you can find one?"

"Ja."

"When will that be?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

I stop and turns to look at her, giving her a look full of annoyance, "Well, were do you want to set up camp?" I ask her, folding my arms.

"How about there?" She say's pointing through the trees to a small, sturdy looking shed in the woods, "I can even see a path to it!"

"Sure." I reply, more grateful that annoyed by the fact that Felicia found a camp first.

"Come on!" She said, probably because I was lagging behind.

"Coming, coming" I called.

We waked through the bushes, and trees to the shed, that turned out to be more of a house than a shed. It had no broken boards, and still had its windows and door in tact.

"Nice, but what if some one lives here?" Felicia inquired

"Well, we just have to knock and find out then." I say and with out a second though knocked on the door.

Nobody answered, "Lets go in!" she said.

"Well, If you think so, then I have no right to stop you, but you never know what is behind a closed door-" I said, but she cut me off mid-sentence.

"Until you open it, right?" she said and with that she flung open the door.


	3. Chapter 3

It's a bit short, but I hope it's alright anyway.

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Chapter three:

The door hit the wall with a thud, making the whole place rattle. Dust drifted through the air for a second before we could see what was inside. When the dust cleared they saw there was a small room.

To the left, approximately at the center of the wall was a fireplace with a pot in it and ashes underneath. In the center of the room was a table that appeared to be made of solid cherry wood. Around it were three chairs, and a broken chair. The table didn't fit in; it was too fancy to be in a little shack on the side of the road. I put it out of my mind.

In the back, and to the left and right of the door there were windows with blue rags covering them. In the back there was an L shaped couch that was falling apart. To our left between the fireplace and the door was what looked like a mini kitchen with some cupboards above a counter? On the right side there was a staircase leading up into the darkness. Underneath the stairs was a pile of broken wood. The whole place seemed to be abandoned.

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone lives here." Ludwig said to break the silence.

"Well what about upstairs? Should we go check it out, just in case?" I asked.

"No, do you see all this dust, if some one lived here, they would have to come down sometimes and you can tell nobody has been here for a while because of all this dust looks untouched." He replied.

"Well, should we go upstairs or not?" I asked again.

"No, we can just stay down here. I don't think that those stairs are safe."

"Sure, I guess this is the best we have..."

"I think this is just what we need. Lets look around. The previous owner may have left something useful behind." Ludwig said, already rummaging through the first of the cupboards.

"I'll check this one then," I said, opening the cupboard door in the middle.

We searched through every thing we could. What we found that may be of use was:

1. Four match boxes

2. One tub of corn meal/oat meal

3. A compass rose with a cracked glass lid

4. Two metal water bottles in nice condition

5. Large box of mismatch fabric

6. Stash of many notebook and pencils and pens

7. A radio with batteries

I didn't see why we would need a radio, but he's sure that it could be useful. We wrote this all down in one of the notebooks. The other thing that I found, that he didn't write down, was a broom. He said it wouldn't be of much importance, but I knew the dust wouldn't go away by itself. I used the broom and some of the pieces of fabric to clean the whole place up. We set the table with what we could. He started a fire using the wood under the stairs. I discovered that there was also an axe in that pile. He said he would go get more firewood tomorrow. I made a porridge like mix for dinner bypassing lunch altogether.

"Thanks." He whispered. We had gotten used to whispering because everything was so silent that our regular volume seemed like shouting.

"You're welcome. Thanks for starting the fire. I couldn't have made this with out your help." I replied assuming he meant the dinner.

"No, thanks for coming with me, you didn't have too." he said.

"Well of course I did, because we're friends right?" I said with the slightest hint of a smile on my lips.

"Right. Best friends." he said, "We only have each other now, we are all alone." Was it just me, or did he just blush? I didn't think he meant to make it sound romantic, but to me every thing he said seemed romantic. I blushed, and continued to eat my gruel. When we finished, I went out to a stream behind the shack that I noticed before. While I was out there I noticed that the second floor window had a ladder going to it. It was not dusty, and seemed to have been used recently. I rushed back inside.

The door slammed shut "I think someone is up there!" I whispered, eyes wide, pointing to the ceiling. Ludwig looked up, then back at me confused.

"Why? Like you said those stairs are covered in dust. Look, even one of them is broken."

"Come look!" We went out back and I pointed out the latter to him.

"Well, do you want to go up?" he asked me.

Maybe we have just stolen some ones house was all I could think, but all I said was, "After you."

"Right, I'll go see if anyone's there…" He didn't sound happy about it, but he started up the latter anyway. He went through the window at the top. When I couldn't see him anymore I climbed up after him.


	4. Chapter 4

You see, the thing about switching pov's is that the suspense gets to last even longer! I apologize to you cheary, my wonderful (and only) reviewer :)

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Chapter four:

"We're back!" Gilbert announced as we reached the last few creaky steps of the stations basement.

"Were have you two been? Do you know what time it is?" inquired Yao.

"No." I reply automatically, well I don't, but they looked at me funny, because it was a rhetorical question, I blushed. This is why I need a watch!

"Well you should be grateful, because, my girlfriend here brought you a very expensive microwave, and enough food for the next two weeks!" says Gil. I realize he just told them I was his girlfriend, and I blush more until my face was as pink as it is in gym class.

"Your girlfriend?" said Francis, with a devilish grin on his face, "So that's what took so long, you had to stop and confess your love?"

We both blushed, because that's exactly what happened. Alfred laughed out loud, and everyone followed in his wake, with a chorus of laughter. Even Gilbert and I laughed.

"So, where's that microwave you were talking about?" asked Alfred.

"Here." said Gilbert smugly, as he opened the suit case to reveal a shinny silver microwave, surrounded by cans and boxes of food, and eight pairs of utensils, with there own, color coded, cloth napkins. He opened another bag, which was full of bathroom things such as soap, towels, shampoo and razors. Another bag had a foldable broom, and dustpan, cleaning liquid, air freshener, and even a dust buster (small vacuum).

"Napkins!" exclaimed Francis for some reason, what's so great about napkins?

"Your awesome!" shouted America

"Yeah, my maid went all out for you guys, we'll get more for the next few days." I proudly said.

"How could we get more than this! There's so much here!" yelled Alfred. "AWESOME!"

"I heard something fall, you hear it, da?" asked Ivan.

"Yeah, Alfred, I think you woke up Peter and Arthur," warned Yao.

"Who's going to tell them about her?" asked Francis.

"You know I am right here, right?" I pointed out

"HEY!" someone shouted from upstairs.

"Oh, now you've done it, Alfred," said Gil.

"YOU GUYS WOKE ME UP!"

"I'll go talk to them." sighed Gilbert.

"Um, should I come?" I asked.

"Yeah, but be careful, it sounds like Peter's angry and that could set off Iggy who will be awake after Peter yelling at us like that." he warned.

"Iggy?" I asked

"Oh, we call Arthur Iggy sometimes… not sure why." He said, as if it's the first time he's noticed it.

"Lets go." I said, putting on my new brave face. We walked up the stairs, with me clinging to Gilbert's arm, as if that could do anything to help me from the enraged kid waiting for us. He opened the door to see an upturned couch, with the blankets now all over the floor, and a few pillows on top of broken things, as if they were thrown there.

Iggy sat up groaning, and rubbing his eyes. While a little kid in a sailor uniform, as he was standing with clenched fists, facing the fridges to our left.

"I was having a good dream. Why did you guys wake me up? You know I would get angry," he growled but somehow looked adorable at the same time. I remember when he used to wear that for weeks on end before he… OH MY GOD PETER!

Until now I hadn't connected the Peter here, with Abby's little brother Peter, who had run away last year. They were the same person. He's he same person who once had long hair that I would braid. He said he was just growing it out to look like the once he admired, but if it was braided, it looked like a girl. He was strong willed but he was a short, skinny kid, with blonde hair and big blue eyes that looked innocent... and he was here of all places!

"Well, Peter, if you turn around I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Mattie. She will be staying with us from now on. She brought us lots of food, and other supplies, because she's awesome, and so we can live better. Just turn around and say hi, ja?" Gilbert's calm voice was different, more certain of himself, like the leader they made him out to be, and less like the exited little kid I had already met. Well except the bit about me being awesome of course…

Peter turned around eyes closed, and breathing deeply. He unclenched his fists, eyes closed, he quietly said, "Hello, I'm Peter, sorry for making a mess, I just have a big temper when I'm woken up like this. Sorry" Then he opened his eyes, "Wait, Madeline? You, what... are... how..." he was confused, of course.

"Ah, well, I was walking home from your Abby's house, and I met Gil here, and, ah, long story short, I'll be living here. I kind of ran away, but I will keep going back to get stuff for you guys. I guess you remember me..." I said, not sure how much I should say.

"I remember you, you are Abby's friend, you tried to braid my hair, and make me look like a girl," he recalled.

"Well, I didn't mean to make you look like a girl, your mom just told me to, so I..."

"She's not my mom any more, she is a horrible woman, married to a disgusting man," he proclaimed.

"Oh, well, uh, okay. So, are you okay with me living here then?" I asked, wondering what that meant.

"Sure, whatever. Not like I get any say in anything anyway." he said, "So you are dating Gil, huh. Good for you. My sister was pretty mean to you wasn't she? At least you can get away now." Well he did always have a habit of saying anything that come to mind…

"Wait," asked Gilbert, who I almost forgot about, "You know each other, because his's sister was your friend? I thought you had no friends."

"Well, She wasn't really a friend, more like a person who hung around me to steal my money, and to use me to take out all her aggression, because I always ended up in her classes, and lived near her. We ended up calling each other friends, even though were total opposites, and she beats me up all the time. Not like anyone stops her, though. People just avoid me now because as she says 'your friends are my friends. You are my friend, and you know what I do to you, that will happen to them', so even if someone wanted to be my friend, I would end up pushing them away so they don't get hurt." I sighed, "I don't usually talk about it... so can we get some sleep?" I asked, because I was getting tired, it was like 1:00AM now.

"Sure, good night Peter." said Gilbert, "And Iggy," he added, but only got a glower in response.

"Good night, and you too Madeline." Peter replied in a sleepy voice.

"Good night Peter." I said, but he was already passed out again.

We walked down the stairs, and I looked around, "So where should I sleep?" I asked, inspecting the area.

"Well, I thought, well, since you know, we uh, could sleep in, um, my room." he said, stumbeling over his words and pointing around the stairs to a place I didn't see before. There was a door.

"Is you room over there?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, It used to be a garage, but now there's a big bed in there, and a bathroom. Peter and Arthur share a bath room up there, and the other's share that one in the corner." he pointed to a small room in the far corner of the room, behind where Alfred slept on a couch. The guys had fallen asleep while we were up there.

"So, can I see your room?" I asked.

"Of course, since, well, now I guess it's your room too, right." I knew he was blushing, just like me, because, we would probably be sharing a bed. All this seemed to still be a dream, but I still hadn't woken up, so I had hope of its existence.

"Well, I'll get my luggage." I said to break the tension. I dragged my bag into his, or now, I should I say _our_, room. The ceiling was tall probably so cargo truck could bring in stuff for the store. It was about 20x15 room, or so. It had the big garage door to the right, and was boarded up. There was a king size bed, with it's head to the boards of the garage door. There was a couch and table in front of an old TV that was sitting on a lopsided table on the opposite side of the room were I was standing. To my left was a 5x8, or so rectangle protruding from the wall. I assumed that it was a bathroom. The floor had a variety of strange old carpets covering it unevenly.

Gilbert was standing awkwardly to my right, next to a dusty wardrobe that was cracked and dented. "You can put your things in here. I got it a while ago, but I only have one outfit, and pajama's so, I don't use it." he said sheepishly.

"You only have one pair of cloths!?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I don't have any money, unless I make it, which I can't seem to do. I can't steal it either, which I don't like to do, so you can see why I don't spend it on cloths, and spend it on food instead." he said, "Every one is assigned a day to get the next days food, and the night before they get there clothes cleaned. Since there are seven days a week, and seven of us, it works out nicely. I don't think you will have to work though, because you are bringing in lots of stuff anyway."

"So, yesterday your cloths were washed and you had to stand out there, and try to get money every Friday?" I didn't quite get it, "What exactly do you do, if you don't work?"

"Well," he said, "lets sit down first." he said, taking me by the hand an pulling me to the bed, were I sat cross legged to his left, on the edge of the bed.

"Basically we have to do what ever we can to get anything we can. Some times I walk around and search for free stuff, or yard sales were I get things for like 25 cents. Other times I sit by the side of the road, with a cup for people to put money into, but I don't usually get anything. Some of the guys take it too seriously, and steal. I hate stealing, I rather starve, but I did try it once. I took this lady's purse, but I felt so bad, that I went back and gave it to her, and ran away because she was going to call the police." he sighed, and put his head in his hands. "Are we bad people, Mattie? Do we deserve to starve? But we can't steal! They don't deserve that either. Mattie?"

"No. Of course you're not bad people, you are just doing what you need to do to live. It's not your fault." I put both my hands on the sides of his face, so he would look into my eyes, instead of avoiding them, "Your not bad, I wouldn't be here with you if you were."

"But... We're the ones who ran away, maybe we do..." he tried to look away, but I held his face in place, he was crying again. He had a certain way of crying, were the tears just rolled along his cheeks, but his face stayed the same. Well, his eyes looked more pitiful, but he didn't scrunch his face up, so he was still beautiful, even when he cried.

"It not you're fault that they made you run away. It's not your fault that they were scared by the way you look. They just didn't take the time to see the real you behind your appearance. They are the ones who judged you. But you shouldn't think of them. They aren't here. I am. And I don't think you're scary." I still feel like this is a dream, I feel so brave, so fluent with my words, it's like a movie.

"You don't... think I'm scary?" he asked, doubtfully, turning his body to look at me at a better angle so I let go his face.

"Of course not. I think your sweet." I whispered, as I moved closer to his face, I paused an inches from him, just looking into his eyes. He suddenly pulled me into a kiss and I kissed back, my heart racing. He pushed me over, so he was on top, kissing me full force. I could tell he didn't really know what he was doing, so I rolled over, and was on top. After a while, his hands around on my waist, gently pushed me back.

"We... should get some sleep," his voice suggested other wise, but I agreed. Neither of us knew anything about this, so we should stop before we go to far.

"Yeah, we should get changed too, were even still wearing our shoes" I laughed meekly.

"Right..." he said as we got up. I took my pajamas from my bag, and went to go change in the bathroom.

"Wait, before you go in you should know, that it is the only shower we have, so it's, uh, kind of crowded in there." he said as I reached the door.

I opened the door, and I saw what he meant. I could say it was a mess, but that would be an understatement. The place was smelly, hairy, and filled with junk. I held my breath, and change as quick as I could. I came out in my grey yoga pants, and a faded blue extra large t-shirt. It wasn't the best, but it is what I had.

Gilbert was sitting on the bead with a pair of navy blue sweats on, no shirt. His chest was practically glowing, because it was so pale. I hadn't noticed before with his hoody on, but he was quite muscular. His chest looked perfect and it took me a second to wonder why he wasn't wearing a shirt. "So, you only have pajama bottoms?" I ask.

"Yeah, I had a shirt a one point, but it blew off the cloths line, so now, uh, are you okay with that? Well, uh, I guess, if you want the bed, I'll take the couch." he said as he started to get up.

"Oh, no, it's your bed, so you should take it," I say, slightly disappointed.

"N-no, y-your the guest here, so..." he fumbled with his words.

"Well, didn't you say we are sharing this room, so we could, uh, share the bed too," I was blushing now, and looking at the floor, fiddling with my hands, "Never mind. We don't have too..." I said too quickly.

"I will, if you want me too... but , uh, you don't have too.." he said quietly.

I did want to though, I did, I rushed forward to him, "I do, but," I paused and looked at the ground again, "I'm, I'm just not used to this yet, so-" I trailed off. He pulled me into his arms, and I held on to him tightly.

"I'm not used to it either." he whispered, "It's okay, I don't bite, I promise." I giggled.

"Okay, just sleeping, right?"

"Just sleeping" he assured me. He pulled up the covers, and slid in, and I followed him. We lay on our sides, facing each other. He was studying my face, was there something on my face? I lifted my hand to brush whatever it was off, but my had move on it's own. I reached out, and gently touched his face. My heart raced even faster, since it hadn't stopped in it's continual marathon since I met him.

What was I doing? I didn't know. He lifted is hand, and held my hand to his face. We were like that for so long, just looking into each other's eyes. Then I couldn't stand it any longer. I turned over, to face the other wall, bringing his arm with me. His bare chest was against my back, his arms around me, holing my hands in his. I listened to his steady breathing, while I slay cradled in his arms, until I somehow fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Felicia's perspective :) I hope she's not too out of character (even though she's sorta fan-made)

enjoy!

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Chapter five:

When I went through the window, the first thing I saw was darkness, then my eyes adjusted. Ludwig was over a body of what looked like a young boy. He was pale but defiantly from Asian decent. However his most characteristic feature was how thin he was. He looked like he was nearly dead, but how would I know?

"Is he alright?" I asked worriedly, coming over, and kneeling at his side.

"Yeah, he seems to be passed out. I think he has a fever too."

"Well come on, lets bring him down. Take these too." I said indicating the blankets and pillows he was curled up in.

"Sure. Can you go first, and pull out the bed from the couch?"

"Yeah, just a sec" I scampered down the stairs, jumping the one that looked broken. Although overall they seemed to be sturdy, despite my original judgment. I pulled off three of the couches cushions, and put them to the side. I grabbed a strong hold on the bar, and with both hands, was able to unfold the bed from inside.

Ludwig came down and put the by in the middle of the bed. I brushed his dark jagged bangs out of the way to felt his forehead, checking for a fever. He did seem to have a fever, but with it being so dark up stairs, we failed to notice the large bloody spot on his forehead.

"Look here, he might have been knocked out. He must have lost a lot of blood too, so that also could be why he fainted. Could you go fill a bucket with water to clean this off?"

"Yeah. Will you set up the bed? I think it would work best if we have an unzipped sleeping bag on the top and on the bottom. We would do better if we all stayed in the same bed, so we don't freeze. We should also take shifts tending to the fire through out the night. Sound good?"

It did sound good- It was great actually. I would never have thought of any of that. He sounded like he knew what he was doing. I sound like I am an airhead. At least it's and air head who gets to be here with Ludwig. I feel like I'm useless, but Ludwig hasn't figured it out yet. Am I lying? Yes? No? No, no.

I busied myself with setting up the bed I got my sleeping bag, and put it on the bottom. I was skeptical about going through his bag, but before I could get a chance to, he was back.

"Hey, do you mind getting out your sleeping bag? I will clean his forehead."

"Sure." He said, but I could tell he didn't know why I asked.

I got some cloth from the fabric box, and wet it. I started to wipe the drying blood away. It looked like he fell hard on a rock or something. I never minded blood before now, but I wasn't sure how long I could do this. It made my stomach churn from the combination of the smell and sight of blood dripping from his open wound.

"Hey, you don't look so good. Are you ok with all that blood? Should I do it for you?" Ludwig asked with concern blatantly written across his face.

"Yeah, uh, well, I thought I'd be fine, but I guess not. Here yeah, you do it. Sorry." I apologized.

"No need to apologize, it's fine. Then can you get the sleeping bag?"

"Yeah, sure." I said. I got up and tried not to fall, the blood was really getting to me. I scanned the room and set my eyes in his bag. I took steady steps over to his bag. I knelt on my right knee before I opened it. What would be inside? Were in the bag should I look? Will I have to dig through his underwear to get it?

Geese, stop asking yourself questions and just do it!

I unzipped the bag, and pulled apart the sides to reveal the contents of his bag. Luckily the first thing on the top was his sleeping bag, I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't. I grabbed it and pulled it out. When unfolding it, I also unzipped it. With a flick of my wrists, the sleeping bag unfurled and gently lay down on the injured boy.

Ludwig smiled at me. I could do nothing but try to smile back. Still feeling sick, I just sat down in a chair at he table, and looked out he window.

I made sure that my back was to the blood.

I sat like this while Ludwig cleaned his wound. We still didn't know what happened to him. How should we ask? I could just wait until he brings it up, but what if he never does? I think I'll have to ask soon, or I die from all this wondering I am doing.

We sat just like that until the sun went down. I cleared and cleaned the fireplace and started a fire. I made some more porridge, enough for all three of us. I so wish we'd found pasta, but I should have known better than to expect pasta out here in the woods.

Then I started to fell a bit jealous. I came on this trip with Ludwig. I should be talking or at least interacting with him. He's been just so nice to the boy. I can't help but wish he were being that nice to me too.

Even now that we are eating dinner he is trying to feed him before himself. He's so selfless. Why can't I be like him? I have always needed to be selfless, but was never like Ludwig. If it was my sister even, I would not be helping his as much as he is to her. I would just give up. Well isn't that what I'm doing now? I'm just living here with Ludwig leaving my family alone?

"Hey, Ludwig, you should try to eat now. It's getting cold you know."

"Your right, thanks for reminding me." He replied with a smile.

Why is he smiling? He shouldn't be smiling, I'm thinking all these thoughts and he smiles at me! I have to do something soon, or he'll just be way to perfect for me.

He was eating now, but stopping every few bites to check on the boy. He's adjusting his blankets and changing his bandages. After a while there seemed to be nothing left to do for a while and so he just ate the rest of his food. Then he sat back on the couch.

"Well..." he said as if he was going to start talking, but the didn't

"That's a deep subject." I repeated instantly. My father would always say that to me. I made me fell homesick for a split second before it was washed away by Ludwig's surprise laughter.

"I didn't think it was that funny" I said laughing at his laughter, he wasn't usually the one to laugh at every little thing.

"Well... I was just surprised that's all, my dad would always say that before..." Then he drifted off. I wonder what he meant. I want to know so much, but maybe it's to late. Wait, what am I thinking? To late? We just started. Sometimes I don't get my mind whatsoever.

Now we were back to silence again. The blood was gone, so I could take a chance to look at the boy clearly. He was small, but not from just his bone structure. He seemed so skinny, like he hadn't eaten in days, which could be possible, I reminded myself. He had dark brown hair that was basically black and it was ragged and split ended.

He was wearing a thin brown coat that ight have been white before. Underneath was a turtle neck that also used to be white. It was a big turtleneck, when the neck was unrolled it could have covered his eyes. For some reason his overall appearance looked like a sleeping Panda.

"A Panda?" I mumbled.

Ludwig must of heard me, because he said, "You think so too? A Panda, he totally looks like one. I can just imagine his eyes being huge."

"I can too." He chuckled.

"I think that should be his name." I decided

"Panda?"

"Yeah, I think we'll need something to call him until he tells us his real name"

"Sure. But," he paused, "you still haven't, um explained, like anything to me yet. So if you could..." he asked

"I was going to get to that, but Panda..." I was just procrastinating now.

"Oh, okay." He nodded, probably being the perfect, patient person that he is.

"But I owe you an explanation, so I guess you will get one." I ended up saying rather than saying, "goodnight, I'll tell you tomorrow."

* * *

aaaannnnnndd SUSPENSE!


	6. Chapter 6

I'm getting more to the part where they're all like, "the worlds messed up!" finally. Has it really been six chapters?

enjoy! =D

* * *

Chapter: Ludwig's perspective

* * *

"So you're going to start like now then?" I didn't want to get put off any longer, even if my expression said otherwise.

"Wow you are so persistent" she chuckled again, "Well I could start...," she teased.

"You're the one who said you owed me an explanation." I reminded her.

"Alright, but don't interrupt please. I can't have you asking questions through out my whole story."

Why I do that? She must be stalling now.

"From what most people can tell from just knowing me a bit, they know I'm nice. I was friends with lots of people at school and through out the town."

I notated the 'was'.

"This was something that people knew, so they would take advantage of it. It happened many times, but I tried not to mind. I would just keep going on, and living as if nothing happened. I usually could tell who was really my friend and who wasn't, so I didn't get hurt that often. I know I just moved there, but a lot can happen in a very short time."

It must have happened over some of the summer too.

"After a few weeks, I had become friends with popular people as well as the not so popular people in the school. There was one girl, Vera, who was good with computers. I thought that was it, but it wasn't. She was good at hacking onto computers, and electronic things. She was going on one day, two days ago actually, about the television. She was complaining about how it was all a lie, and stuff that I didn't pay much attention to. After a while, she explained it more in depth. She said that the "national" news and government anything was all being filtered through her parents company."

"That means that the company in this town, that is a part of the government branch, is actually making the news for this part of the state. Each state has a different company, but she said that they are all covering up something with our fake news. The West is not getting it. There may not even be any west coast for all we know."

What do you mean no west coast? I know we're not allowed to go on vacation over there any more, but it not being there? Does she mean no people there, or no land?

"The company is making up everything that everyone "knows to be true", so who knows what they could be hiding?"

"So after she explained most of it he was going to hack onto her parents computer to see if she could get some more information. This is where it gets... bad."

Bad how?

"She didn't expect it to be such a guarded computer... His parent had a, um, burglary system recently installed and not the ordinary type. It was far more technologically advanced than anything she's delt with before. When he tried to sneak in to his dads office, it set off and alarm, and… the police came."

POLICE? Since when were there police? I thought that wasn't a job anymore!

"She blamed it all on me, and ranted on about me saying and doing all this stuff, about hacking and government. I was taken into custody; because I was too nice, like usual and said I did it. The company was then involved and I was in bigger trouble than I thought. Then my parents got me out of all of it with money but only barely. I was sent home but dad was... a bit mad at me." she said pointing to his bruised eye. I gaped. Her father HIT HER. I wish I could just go back there and-

"They are probably looking for me now, but they would never come this way to look for me."

Yeah, no one comes this way... unless you are us… which makes us no ones.

"But I don't care, I know the truth now, well some of it any way. I know that the company is part of the government. I know that the government is not very good, and that is failing. I know that the company is creating the news, and that the information that we get is all coming from them. I know that it is much worse in most places, and that we should be glad to have this." He said waving around at this little worn down house. He waited for my reaction.

Could it get worse than this? I guess it could...

"Are you done? I'm not interrupting now?"

"No you're fine, go ahead."

"GOOD. So, well, are you okay? Do you think they are hiding that there is no west coast or something?"

"Well just because it's a possibility, doesn't mean that it's probable or true in any way, shape, or form. But, that's what Vera seemed to believe."

"Well I don't."

"Neither do I, but I can't help wonder, right?" Then we laid back and wondered in silence until we fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Mattie's perspective

I awoke the next morning when I could feel his absence. Opening my eyes, I saw the dusty ceiling far above me. I rolled over and as I suspected Gilbert wasn't there. What was there, were the wrinkles in the sheets that were made when he got up. I grabbed his pillow, and brought it to my face. I closed my eyes, and breathed deeply. I breathed in his smell; it was a good, indescribable smell.

I sat up, still clutching the pillow, and remembered yesterday. It was so confusing, so exiting, and seemingly impossible, yet possible. All I had to do was look around as proof. I stood up and put down the pillow. I realized there was a mirror by the dresser so I checked my reflection. I could have been worse so I decided to go find out how to get some breakfast.

As I opened the door, I remembered Gilberts warning about the guys not always wearing cloths, but no one was down here. I was grateful that I forgot to take off my socks, because I could feel the chill of the stone floor through them. The stairs creaked on nearly every step as I climbed them up to the door.

I paused at the top, thinking of what I look like, is it okay, or should I get dressed? What will they do? Will they great me or ignore me? Will they remember me? Of course they will, don't be silly!

So I went ahead and opened the door. I saw that there was a table set up by the fridges to my left where all the guys sat and were talking and eating. Gilbert waved me over, smiling.

"Good morning." said Gilbert.

"Morning sleepy head", said Alfred, "It took you long enough."

"Don't tease the girl for getting her beauty rest." Francis told Alfred

"Morning. Nice to meet you. I'm Arthur. Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself last night." His accent was British and far more sophisticated than I had imagined because of his punk-goth-ish clothing. It makes me wonder how old he really is. He looks as if he's a bit older than Peter, but then the clothes make him seem like a teen and his speech is one of an adult!

"Nice to meet you, I'm Mattie." I said.

He snorted, "Of course, who _you_ are, I know." then went back to eating his cheerios.

"Right, yeah." I muttered. I guess the way he spoke before doesn't eliminate rudeness from the meaning.

"What do you want?" Gilbert interrupted, "We have all the stuff you brought, so there are a lot of choices. See," he pointed to the counter.

"And they're all lined up alphabetically because someone insisted." Alfred said, ore to Arthur than to me.

"And there's milk in the fridge, and water from the sink." Gilbert finished.

"Thanks!" I said quickly, scurrying over to the counter. I grab the box of Rice Kipsies and a yellow bowl with a straw built into it. I went to the fridge, and got out he milk. I poured it slowly over the cereal, trying not to waste any since I know that milk must be expensive to them.

I picked a spoon from a cup holding an assortment of styles. The one I chose is a big soupspoon, with flowers engraved in the top. I pick up the bowl, and went to sit in the only available seat at the end next to Gilbert, who smiled at me. I smile back. I ate quickly, and went over to the sink to wash the bowl. I put the bowl on the drying rack, and scurried down the stairs, back to my room. Gilbert is there. He's pulls on his shirt and turns, when he hears me come in.

He smiles as he strides over to me, "Did you sleep well?" he asks as he puts a stray strand of hair behind my ear. My heart begins to race, and so I nod, not trusting my voice.

Gilbert lets his hand fall, and tries to go around past me, to the door. I instinctively put up my hand to block his way. Holding his shirt, and turn toward him. I stand on my tip-toes, and kiss him. He holds on to me, until I release him. He smiles, a big smile that I try to return.

"I'll be back," he says before he passes me, and goes up stairs. I quickly pick out, and change into a fresh set of cloths. I am wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, and a bright red, v-neck t-shirt. I sit on the couch, and look at a pile of book on the table. They seem to all be old books, but they seem like they have been read multiple times. When Gil came back in he sat next to me and let me finish reading the back of a thick, blue, book.

"You read non-fiction?" I say, "I wouldn't think you like that kind of stuff. Looks like you read it a lot though." then I put down the book and look at him.

"I read anything I can get my hands on. I really wish I could have gone to school. You guys are so lucky. You got four more years of worth of education! I mean, I only got five, and I really don't know anything. It makes me feel so un-awesome, it's annoying." Gilbert says.

"Well I've never thought of it that way. I was always tormented at school, and my mom would take away my dinner if I got bad grades, so I never really thought that you could _want_ to go."

"Yeah, well, no matter how much I want to be smart, I will just be stupid, and scary..." he said looking away.

"I thought I told you last night that you are not scary. And for being stupid, you're not that either." I said sternly, "I bet that I could get all my old textbooks for you from home. I won't be going to school either, so you can have them, okay?" I said trying to cheer him up. He had that sad look in his eyes, like before.

"Really?" He said, a smile growing across his face.

"Really, really. I could be like you tutor, or something. What else is there to do around here anyway?" I say.

"Oh, well, when I was up stairs, I asked if you would have to have a day, you know were, you got the next day's money, but they said you didn't have to."

"Good, I don't think I could do anything like that, I would end up disappointing you." I admitted.

"But they said that, since you said before, that you could do the cleaning and stuff, we will need that for The Den. Why don't you start now? We really, _really_, need to clean the room over there or else it will eat us alive! No kidding, it's really that bad!" he pleaded, "I'll help, of course." he added.

* * *

I just wanted to tell you guys that I wrote the first ten or so chapters this october(that's why it's set in october) but they were more like chapter summaries. Also back then I was doing a fairy tale theme, so Mattie would have been cinderella and snow-white, and Panda(japan) was sleeping beauty. Also abby had a sister in that version so they'd be the ugly step sisters. Then Felicia was going to be Rapunzel or something... Also Mattie ran away in the other version then and left her shoe for gil to find... so yeah I edited it a lot :)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Matties perspective

"Well we should start now. So were did you guys put the cleaning supplies? What exactly do I have to work with here?" I asked.

This was going to be hard, but I'm used to cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry. That is basically all I did after homework on weekdays. I would clean and work in the garden too, but only on the weekends.

"Lets start," he said, "I want to get it over and done with."

"Sure." I finally felt like I had a place in the world, right here, doing just this.

We walked to the other room, or what I have now have learned to be called "The Den". Blankets, and mess was strewed about. Old games, and junk from yard sales were falling off the shelves in the back, by the other bathroom. I wasn't sure were to start, so I asked Gilbert.

"Were do we start?"

"We should start with getting all our supplies together, then we should go through and sort things into piles. We can then go from there." he said, "I'll get the supplies, you start to sort through this mess."

"Right." I muttered to myself as he climbed the stairs. I walked over to the overwhelming pile. I put on my brave face, and trudged in, separating out the pillows and blankets, from cloth, or trash, or junk. I piled the blankets to the left of the stairs. Gilbert brought down a bunch of the supplies, and plopped them down on the right of the stairs for me. I asked him to go wash the blankets, and pillowcases for me.

Gilbert asked the guys to stay up stairs for the remainder of the day, the protested a bit, but agree to it in the end. They didn't like living in the mess, but they didn't want to clean it either. For the rest of the day we worked together like this, me helping him, and him helping me. We stopped for a brief lunch, dinner, and bathroom breaks only. When we were done with it all, it was maybe eight at night.

I stood with the staircase to my right gazing at my masterpiece five feet from in and my room. The Den looked much bigger than it did before from this angle, or maybe it was because it was all cleaned up. It had high, 10 feet ceiling with three rows of electric lights across the ceiling, parallel with the staircase. The staircase protruded out about five feet, or a third of the with of the room. The carpet was mismatched, but clean, and no longer covered with junk.

Alfred and Francis's beds (couches) were lined up against the wall on my left and Yao and Ivan's bed (couch) was on my right in the corner between the wall and staircase. There were two shelves, that I organized their things on, the back wall, next to the 5x5 bathroom in the right corner. There was a broken dresser with a missing drawer between the bathroom and Yao and Ivan's bed. Between the two shelves in the back, was an old TV, and radio, that I dusted off. I detangled the wires, so it would be easier to use. Everything was clean and organized and I liked it much better. I put the cleaning supplies in the cupboard under the stairs. It looked perfect and I was proud of all the work I did. I was ready to show the guys.

"You can get them now." I told Gil.

"Yeah? I think they will like you even more now, you did an awesome job." Gil told me with a quick hug with his last words, before jumping up the stairs. I guess all this hard work didn't even put a dent in his energy. For me I could pass out at any minute. I just keep thinking that I have to act brave. I have to, because this doesn't seem to be a place for wimps like I used to be. I think I have changed now, but I still worry.

Then my time for worrying ended, when the door flew open, and Francis came flying down the stairs. He stopped and stared, as the others filtered down the steps, taking in the clean, and neat room, that was totally transformed. When they were done, they all shouted out comments.

"WHOA! HOW IS THIS SO CLEAN!?" shouted Alfred to Gil and me.

"Nice job", said Arthur, grinning.

"This is...so clean! " squeaked Francis as if all his dreams have come true.

"I didn't think this room was so big!" exclaimed Ivan.

"Good Job, you even remembered to put two pillows on our bed." said Yao approvingly.

"Maddeline, I didn't know you could clean! If Abby knew about this, she would have made you clean her room every day." said Peter.

"Please don't call me Maddeline anymore, really. And don't talk about _that_ person either." I replied coldly, even though I know should have been kinder.

"Oh, uh, sorry… Mattie." Peter apologized quietly.

"Thanks! You found so much stuff I thought I would never see again!" said Alfred as he came over and hugged me. They all acted like little kids, which makes sense I guess they're not used to having a "mom" figure around. But Gil misunderstood the gesture. He pushed Alfred away, and pulled me into his arms.

"Don't touch her." he warned, "Please." he added, but still in the same defensive tone.

"I'm okay, really." I said, pulling away, and putting my hands up, "I promise."

"Maybe you're the one who shouldn't touch her." challenged Alfed, "We all can see those bruises on her." I looked down, and sure enough I had bruises. They were from Abby yesterday and the many days before that, not Gilbert. Gilbert would never do this to me.

"No, no, no, these aren't Gilbert's doing. Uh, some one else, uh, um, she who must not be named did this. It's normal. Don't worry, they'll be gone soon. Ha, ha..." I said trying to break the tension with my.

"Well that's original." Huffed Peter, "You can just say "Abby" or "Peter's Sister" or something, saying her name won't bring her here you know."

"Wait, your sister did that to her? You've met her before?" asked Yao.

"Yeah..." I mumbled.

"Yeah, there's a reason I ran away." Peter said, "Our parents were always horrible to us. We were poor, but they still had jobs. Those jobs were in the lowest of the low in the government, but it was still a secret-anyway, since Abby didn't come with me, she got depressed, and stopped studying. She used Liz, here as a bunching bag before, and a source of money, to fuel her sugar addiction but when I left I gues it must have gotten worse... I bet Liz hasn't eaten lunch at school since 6th grade. She could be so mean-"

I cut him off, I couldn't stand to listen to my old life like this, "I'm gonna get some sleep..." I said as I hurried away, I couldn't let them see me cry again. I slammed the door behind me.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine: Felicia's pov

I woke up next to Ludwig. My heart was pounding and I remembered what happened and that we ran away together, it was so real, I don't know why people always describe these things as dream-like. I could hear his heat beat beside me, and I knew it couldn't have been a dream. It was about 10:00 or 10:30 but even with the extended sleeping time I felt as if I must have slept longer, I felt so refreshed. I sat up and looked around.

Then I remembered Panda. Where was he? he had been sleeping between us right? I jumped up and looked around. I ran upstairs and found nothing, not a single trace that he had been up there, or was up there. I looked back down stairs, yet again no sign of him . Then I saw the door.

The door was open, and nothing was missing, he must have just been so frightened that he ran away as soon as he could. I grabbed a bag and stuffed some medical looking things in it then ran out the door. I looked around and I couldn't see him, then I heard the snapping of branches of in the distance. I ran that way.

I could hardly see where I was going or what I was doing, but I jumped over logs and rocks always trying my best not to trip. I just kept on running toward the sound of leaves rustling and branches snapping. The sun was near the center of the sky, and I knew what that meant luckily. I know many people in my school that would have no idea what time it was unless they had their digital watch or phone to tell them. I ran and ran and I was still just a bit too far away each time I saw him.

When he looks back at me hiseyes expand and he looks just like I imagined he would; like an Panda. Then he would keep running. For someone with a sever head injury he sure can run. The forest floor began to slope down and a stream appeared. I saw Panda standing on the bank, deciding to cross there or further down.

He hadn't heard me behind him, yet, and so he didn't try to escape. I took a moment to catch my breath, since this is the most exercise I've done since I had to do the mile run. That was a horrible day, the only time Ludwig yells at me is when I'm dragging behind, which is all I ever do.

On second thought, I must have run more than a mile by now, on rough terrain too. I began to worry that I would loose him and he would bleed to death alone in the woods.

Once I was able to breath easier I crept closer avoiding crunchy leaves or twigs. Then he started scampering down the bank, not because he had noticed me, but for some other reason I didn't know. I followed him, keeping in the bushes. At one point he stopped running and looked back, probably looking to see if he had lost me yet. Seeming satisfied that I wasn't on his trail; he walked along the bank of a stream.

When he wasn't running from me, I had to be careful to watch my step, but overall it was better than running. I had time to think _and it wasn't running_. I wondered where he was going, because he seemed to know the area well, and stayed on what seemed to be a well-used path.

I originally gauged his age at about ten or eleven, but seeing him in his element made me think he could be older. He had a certain air about him, the way he held him self, that didn't seem Panda-ish. He seemed like he knew many things; that he had lived a long time and was wise and knowledgeable about the world.

Once in a while I would mess up, a leaf would crunch or a twig would snap. He would quickly crouch low to the ground, not moving, being as still as a statue for longer than seemed humanly possible. It took a while for him to feel safe; for him to be able to think that the threat has passed and move on. He was careful, and graceful, and it made me envy him.

When he seemed like a Panda, he seemed innocent, as if he was just a small child. He would trip once in a while, or go the wrong way and turn back the way he came.

Once I was sure he had noticed me. I felt as if I should just stand up and introduce myself, and explain that all I wanted was for him to be ok and tell him that I cared and maybe he should come with me and get some medical attention. Then all would be well, and he would trust me. I thought this, but didn't believe it. I just wished it would work; that all this hiding and running would end.

As I followed his I was able to let my mind be free. I could think of anything at this time. It wasn't scheduled; it just went at my own pace. I was able to think of things I would never have thought of before. I was able to be me, or what I thought could be me, for this time, and this time alone, belonged to me only. It was serene in a way.

I thought it would just go on like this forever: He walked forward. The stream gurgled. I walked forward. Birds chirped. He walked some more. The breeze blew. I walked some more.

Then it all ended.

I stumbled over a patch of uneven ground, falling right onto the path behind him. He whipped around, looked at me with his shocked big brown eyes, and then started running. I jumped to my feet and followed him the best I could. He didn't stop and neither did I.

The more time passed the slower we both got, until I was just walking ten or fifteen feet behind his. As we walked I pondered the pros and cons of attempting to talk to him.

On the con side, he could have forgotten I was here, then start running again. OR he could still not want to talk or listen to me. On the pro side, he might listen, and I can explain that I'm trying to help his, not kill him or something.

I decided against my best judgment to say, "Hey! I know you medical attention! I can help! Please!"

He turned around, and raised his hand to his head, then quickly turned around and resumed walking.

"Please, I can help, really." I said holding up my bag, he turned to look at the bag, but kept walking

"Please, we have food at my house too! I bet your hungry, and your head must hurt." I pleaded, I don't know why I needed his to come with me so much. I just couldn't stand to see his out here alone with no one to take care of him.

She turned slowly and asked, "Food?"

Finally he listened, even if it wasn't about his wound, which had been dripping down his face, and was now staining his shirt and jacket.

"Yes, food, and water and warm clothes and bandages!" I said waving him over to me. He reluctantly took a step forward. I began to take a step, and then he retreated.

"I won't hurt you. I promise." I felt the urge to run up and hug his until it was all better, but I resisted. He took another step forward. Then another. I slowly put my bag down, and unzipped it. I grabbed out a roll of bandage cloth tape.

"See, just medical tape. For your wound." he shook his head.

"It will help your head." I said pointing to his wound. He reached up aging as if to touch it, but didn't. Then he shook his head again.

" I just need to eat." He said. I sighed. I guess we'll just have to fix something at home. Then I realized I didn't know where I was, how to get back.

"Um, do you perhaps remember the way back to the cabin?" I asked, really hoping he did. He nodded, and then pointed forward. I didn't understand, shouldn't we go back? Then I realized that he had leaded me in a U shape. He must know these forests well.

"That's good. Why don't you lead, and I follow you? Then we can have food, right?" he nodded, and this time, he smiled. It was a wonderfully little smile. I never had that kind of smile. Mine always was a wide smile that I wore all the time because it went with anything was wearing.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Felicia's pov

I followed him through the forest on a narrow path a few feet behind him. When the path opened up, I stayed the few feet back. Then at an intersection he stopped, looked both ways, and chose a direction. I had gained a few feet now and was right beside to him. The best part was he let me stay there. At one point he even grabbed my hand. He had cold hands, and a firm grip. I noticed there was as number on the back of his hand, but I put it out of my mind. I was just happy to be helping.

I felt like I was leading him instead of the other way around, but it was better than when I was way back behind him.

Later on his steps slowed, and he came to a stop. The trail seemed to end here, but he peered through the trees to find the right way. Then he pointed out the cabin of in the distance.

"That cabin?" he asked.

"Yes, food and water are there." I replied.

Then he let go of my hand, and I tried to yell, "Wait!" but he was already gone. I felt sore and tired, but I managed to reach the cabin despite it.

When I got there I was facing the side of the house, and decided to go in the back door. When I got inside, it was like nothing had changed. Ludwig was still asleep and the blankets were still in the same crinkled pattern. Everything was just where I had left them. No Panda.

I looked around. Maybe he was waiting out in front for me to catch up. I opened the front door and walked out side. Then I saw his small collapsed figure on the ground not to far away.

Running over to him, I tripped on a root. When I stood up I realized that he must have lost a lot of blood, because he had fainted again. I scooped up and brought him back, laying him on the bed.

I shook Ludwig's shoulder and he woke silently. He took in the situation, and saw the blood and open dirty wound. With out a word and began tending to his wound again.

"Ludwig," I said but he didn't respond, "Ludwig!" I repeated louder.

"Hmm, What?" he said looking up at me before digging through my small bag and coming up with the roll of medical tape.

"When I woke up he had tried to run away. I followed his through the woods all day. Finally I was able to get his back here, and found his passed out from blood loss outside." I said just trying to fill him in about what happened.

"Oh, that explains the dirt in his wound, and on his clothes." he pointed out the new dirt and grass stains on his clothes. "But he didn't pass out from blood loss I think. I think its dehydration." he didn't seem to be fully awake yet, he had slept a long time.

Maybe he had trouble getting to sleep last night or something. I always imagined him as a morning person, but I guess not. I sat down facing away from the blood, remembering what happened last time.

"Can you get some water?"

"From where?" I asked, there were no sinks

"From the well out side." he said

"What should I put it in?" I asked looking around

"Put it in one of the water bottles we found." he said, then, as an afterthought, he added, "Actually fill up both."

I nodded then grabbed both water bottles and went out thorough the back door. I looked around the house and found the well he had been talking about. I guess he must have found it in the middle of the night.

When I came back in with both of them full, he had finished bandaging his. I handed he bottles and said, "here,"

"Thanks" he said then glugged one, "can you get another?"

I sighed, "Sure" I repeated the process, filling it up and drinking it myself, then refilling it..

Now Panda was up, sitting cross legged on the bed, holding the water bottle. I handed his the newly filled one, and smiled at his, "See, water." he nodded, with a hint of a smile on his lips

"Food?" he asked

"coming right up." I said

She nodded in response, and then drank his water. I had made extra oatmeal, and now it was cold, but he ate it anyway. he ate it like he was starving, which of course he was. Then held out his bowl for refills. This time I had to go out and refill the pot, and make a fire. I poured the hot water over the dry oats, and viola, oatmeal. I had to make his wait a bit for it to cool, or else he would burn his tongue which was torture for his and therefore me.

I watched his eat, and made refills until he couldn't eat anymore.

Then when I was done with all the dishes, I sat down in the middle of the bed, next to his. he smiled at me and gave me a hug. I felt like a good mother. I know I'm not his mother, but that's what it feels like to me.

Then he laid down, curled up, and closed his eyes to go to bed. I laid down too, closing my eyes. I felt Ludwig get into bed, and tried not to think about it as I feel asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Gilberts POV

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"Didn't have to be so rude." Arthur commented after Mattie left.

"What?! I just... uhg!" then Peter ran up the steps, and slammed the door.

"So... my point is did you hurt her?" asked Alfred me.

"Of course he didn't, they are in love." stated Francis, "He would only hurt her if she liked it." He finished with waggling his eyebrows, however no one seemed to pay him much attention.

"I didn't hurt her, okay?!" I shouted, "Why do you doubt me so much?!"

"Well, you did suddenly drag in a random girl from the streets, make her give us expensive stuff, and clean our place. Not to mention, you probably slept with her last night, didn't you?" Alfred added unhelpfully.

"No, I, Wha..." I said feeling lost for words. I did sleep with her, but not in the way he meant.

"Who cares if he slept with her? I sleep with Peter. Yao and Ivan sleep together, and Alfred, you slept with the dog. I don't get you, I don't think he slept on his crappy couch, but why do you care?" he yawned, before he went on, "I'm tired, and going to sleep. 'Night." said Arthur, obviously didn't understand what they were really talking about because he's either too tired or too young, or maybe both.

"You know what I mean," Alfred said, "I don't want a baby on our hands any time soon."

"Alfred!" exclaimed Yao.

"Don't tell me you weren't thinking it to guys, I mean, they got a big bed, in there own room with a lock on the door."

"I-I would never! You are, you are, are..." I was at a lost for words again, "You are so not awesome." I finally said, because it was the worst I could think of on short notice that wasn't German swears they wouldn't understand.

"Guys, just settle down! You two behave." said Yao sternly, putting his hands on his hips, "Alfred, that's there choice. And, to make myself clear, I don't suggest that either." He noted, glancing over at me.

"Oh! I see, you don't suggest it because you don't take action either. How long have you two been together again? I mean," Alfred changed his voice to a whisper, "Have you even kissed yet?"

"We-we haven't, not like its any of your business." Yao said and blushed depply. Then Ivan stepped in front of him protectively.

"Don't make fun them, really mes amis, that's why they're here; to avoid this!" said Francis, yet again not helping much.

"Well you're single da? You don't understand."

"Yes, I know. I, I, just...I don't know. Every one is just pairing up. Arthur is best buds with Peter. Ivan and Yao are a couple, and you aren't even doing anything! Now Gil has Mattie. Even the dog seems to like Francis more than me for some reason." he said sourly, then went over to his "bed", "Good night then all you _couples_." he said, rolling over to hide his face.

Then all that was left was the prolonged silence that only was broken by the dog running down the steps. Francis picked the dog up and said, "I think was should all get some rest." and with that he started to get ready for bed. Ivan and Yao, who usually are comfortable together, acted strangely. They blushed, and avoided eye contact.

I knew he should fix something, but I didn't know how, so I just blurted out, "We already kissed you know, not all Alfred advice was bad... Yao... Ivan." this time, Yao caught Ivan's gaze, "Really, it's not as scary as people think, like I'm not as scary as people think." that made them chuckle. Although they didn't dramatically kiss on the spot, they did get closer, and kept up there gaze.

I now felt accomplished some how, "Good night guys!" I called over his shoulders, and went to see if Mattie was okay.

* * *

So, just so you guys know, the Ivan isn't out of character because he's not like "Everyone become one with mother Russia" and hasn't even kissed Yao, it's actually part of the plot, so don't be confused :)


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve: Mattie's pov

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I changed back into my pajamas, and was curled up, covered in thick blue blanket, which reminded me of our territory. After the war, the state of Massachusetts became a part of the Blue territory. All of North America was split up into territories my color of the rainbow from west to east. Sadly, there are only four territories, leaving out purple but also green for some reason. I could never understand why they left out green instead of blue or red.

I could still hear some shouting from the other room. It's like the war hasn't stopped. I wonder why Peter is so insensitive, it's like he didn't care about me at all. Well he probably doesn't care.

Checking my bruises again, I can imagine why Alfred would think something like that, but Gilbert would never force me to do something like that. Would he? I don't really know him. Alfred knows him better than me… Could it be possible that that could happen? No, that can't be. Never. I watched him cry last night because he_ almost_ stole something. I'm thinking too much.

Then Jake opened the door, and peeked his head in. He was suppressing a grin.

"What are you happy about?" I ask, wondering how our fight could make him smile.

"Well, I think I may have gotten Ivan and Yao closer together. I," he paused, then went on, "told them that, well, we had already kissed, and we haven't known each other long, and that they should try it. They have been together for a long time now, and don't show many of that kind of affection to each other. I think they are finally going to admit to themselves that it's okay to be what they are. We have been telling them that it's alright for a while, but they never took it seriously."

"They haven't even kissed?" I asked and he nodded, "They must have been together for, like a year now, right?" I was a bit more surprised, what will Gil and I have done in a year? Well definitely more than kissing.

"Yeah, like ten months or something. Well, more like four, because they didn't accept the term 'dating' for maybe five or six months. They just talked and never separated. But we could tell there was more too it, even them, thought they probably wouldn't say so if we asked." He said, sitting next to me.

"Yeah, well," I said, leaning over to him, "I might understand why."

"Why?" he breathed, my face close to his.

"Because, I wouldn't want to stop when I started." I whispered, as I leaned into kiss him. We kissed for only a short time before we were interrupted by the door opening.

Yao stood there with the dog, "OH! Oh, sorry, I, uh, just- " he was staring at me on top of him, I quickly move off of him, but it was too late, he saw us. "I just wanted to, uh, tell you that Alfred named the dog but he didn't want to talk to you. I'll go, sorry to interrupt." He said as he avoided my eyes and moved to leave.

"Well, first you could have knocked, and second why don't you tell us the dogs name, so it wasn't a waste to come here in the first place." said Gilbert, acting like a leader again, he could change so quickly from one personality to another.

"It's, it's, Tony, uh, sorry, bye." he rushed through his words, and left abruptly with a slam of the door.

"Well, at least it wasn't Alfred. He'd have killed me." he said with a shaky laugh.

"I hope not. Why would he kill you, I was the one who," I stopped, and kissed him again, "Kissed you."

"Well, he would know it would end up like _this_." he said, rolling over so he was on top.

He was smiling, and so was I, but I couldn't forget what I was thinking about earlier; about how little I know about him. Could still be tricking me? His face changed when I thought that. I must be thinking too much, he'd never do that.

"Are you okay?" he said while gently petting my face with the back of his hand, "You look worried."

"I-I don't know," I could feel my face heating up, "this still feels like a dream to me, and I don't want it to turn in to a nightmare like they usually do." I snuffled before a tear tears came rolling down my cheek.

"I'm not a dream, you really are here. Everything will be awesome. Shhh" he soothed, hugging me.

"How can you be sure?" I asked. I just can't seem to believe it all happened so soon, and so perfectly.

"Dreams can't hold you like this." he held tighter, "They can't kiss you like this," and he kissed me gently.

"And, they certainly can't love you like I do." I couldn't hold back, I sobbed, my face was probably scrunched up and ugly, not like Gilbert, with his beautiful face, no matter if he's crying or not. I try to cover my face, but he holds down my arms, and wipes my eyes for me. I stare into his beautiful crimson eyes.

"You are too perfect," I say when I composed myself enough to talk. And guess what he did? Laugh. He was so amused that it made a smile slowly spread across my face.

"You think, that I'm perfect?" he kept laughing his odd 'kesesese', until it slowly faded away.

"Well, yeah..." I mutter.

"I am no where near perfect, trust me. You are the one who's perfect." he said, almost making me believe it with his serious expression, before I come to my senses.

"There's no way I could be perfect, no one likes me, I-" I try to say.

"You are perfect. I like you. Francis, Alfred, Yao, Ivan, Peter and Alfred like you. You are awesomely perfect! You come here and the first thing you do is bring more stuff than we knew existed. Then you clean The Den and blow our minds. You have a strong and a sensitive side. You are caring and selfless. You saved Tony," he says, pronouncing each word with diction and clarity, to try to make me understand.

"You saved me too," he whispers, getting off me, and sitting to my right, "Yesterday was my last chance. They were discussing taking away my Friday duty, because I didn't help at all. I actually scared some people off, who used to give Ivan money on Tuesdays. I was probably going to get kicked out too, but I found you." I wouldn't have believed him if it weren't for the look in his eyes, it was so sad, like when I first met him.

"No way, they wouldn't kick you out!" I exclaim.

"Yeah, well, maybe they would to save themselves. You saved us all, really."

I am saved them? I just brought them some stuff, and cleaned up a bit. But I did make it so Gil could live here longer. Or did I? He said that they were going to kick him out, but they could never do something like that, right? They were good guys right? Could they do that to Jake?

These thoughts ran through my mind, but they didn't stick. All I did was quietly repeat "I saved you?"

"Yup, saved us all with your kindness. And not to mention cleanliness too."

"Yeah, cleanliness saved you." I retorted.

"It did! Really!"

"Sure, sure."

"Well even if you don't believe me about that, believe me that we should get some sleep." Gil said pulling me into his arms.

"Right, lets sleep." I said as I closed my eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

Wow, I had solo many errors in that chapter (that I've now fixed) sorry to all of you who had to read it before my edits

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Chapter 13: Felicia's pov

When I woke up, Panda was curled up on my left side and Ludwig was on my right. Laying here like this made me feel like life had always been this way, just Panda, Ludwig and me. I sighed, not wanting to get up and ruin the moment. I lay in bed like that until I realized I had to get up and use the bathroom. I found out yesterday, that it wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Today, knowing what to do, I went in the stream far enough away so that the waste went away from the cabin, or else it circled back around and went in to the well water.

When I came back in I grabbed the pot over the fire to fill up from the well. Setting the pot on the hook, I proceeded to set a fire before waking Ludwig who dressed and ate quickly.

"I think we should take him to a hospital." I commented, as I finished up my oats.

"But we're in the middle of no where, there aren't any hospitals around here." he said as he rolled up his sleeves to do the dishes.

I was looking out the window, and I saw some people, odd for this area, I thought, "Why don't we ask them?" I said not thinking he would take me seriously.

"Sure, you stay here, and I'll go ask them." and set the last dish clean dish on the table, before I could say another word he had left, walking briskly down the path toward the people coming from the same direction we had came from.

I watched as they got nearer and nearer to each other, and then met in the middle of the road. I could tell they were surprised that someone else was out here. I looked closer at the two people. They seemed to be about our age, one of the two boys might be older however. It's hard to tell from a distance, but one was certainly taller than the other.

The taller boy now stepped in front of the shorter one. Ludwig said something and pointed at the cabin. The shorter boy pointed down the road and said something. They said a few more things that I wish I could hear and by now I was getting worried they couldn't help us. Maybe they were just wasting our time. Eventually, though, they walked up the path towards the cabin.

I open the door for them and Ludwig said, "Felicia, this is Berwald and…" he said waiting for the shorter one to fill in his name.

Yet he didn't. Berwald did, "This is my wife, Tino." He said in what was an almost scary tone of voice. I'm not sure why he said "wife" but no one seemed to be arguing with his statement.

Luckily Ludwig wasn't scared, or didn't notice, so he said, "Berwald and Tino say there is a town about a mile down the road, and there might be a hospital there. I think we should go now, or at least as soon as we can."

"Okay, I'll pack up my things." I said, really wanting to get Panda to a hospital.

"Alright, I'll pack up mine then." He said then immediately started to pack.

When we were done packing, Ludwig picked Panda up and walk out the door. I wish he would carry me, but that's a silly idea, I got to stop thinking like that. And why haven't the newbie's said anything yet?

"So, were are you guys from?" I asked trying to get them to talk.

"We're not from anywhere. Our parents died when we were ten, well Berwald's parents and my guardians, and we just kept going from place to place for the last four years." Tino said as I noticed that their clothes were just as bad as Panda's or maybe worse, "Where are you guys from?"

"We're from (random city name here)"I said

They shared a glance, "The suburb of the richest rich? That one?" Tino asked in wonder.

"Yeah, that one." Ludwig answered Even If he wasn't the 'Richest rich' type of a person like me.

"Why are you here?" Berwald spoke for the second time.

"Well something happened with my father," I wasn't going to explain too much more about what happened, "And so I was going to run away, and Ludwig came with me."

"Oh, so you two didn't elope together?" Tino said sounding a bit disappointed.

"No, we didn't." I said but I couldn't help but feeling sad about that too.

"How's living on the streets compared to living in a mansion?" Tino asked.

"Well I've been ok, and I think Ludwig has been fine. He didn't live in a mansion."

"Oh, so you actually lived in a mansion!" Tino squeaked, "Did you have gourmet food for every meal? Did you have a maid, and a cook and a gardener?!" he asked excitedly.

"You bet I did." I said smiling, and he smiled back. Then it hit me, he and I could be friends. I could have TWO friends, maybe even three if Berwald was included... It kind of shocked me, but it was a good shock. I wanted friends, I really did, and now I have three!

Wait, don't get a head of yourself, they aren't quite my friends yet. Even Ludwig is hardly what would call a friend right now, more like he just came along for no particular reason... Greeeaat, now I just killed my only happy thought.

Luckily I couldn't think any more depressing things just then because we turned around a corner and were on a paved road.

"We must be close." Tino said.

A little ways down this road a boarded up gas station came into view. A few roads intersected here, but there were no cars. It almost looked like a ghost town, but then a car came down a steep hill and turned onto another road, probably not even seeing us.

"Should we ask where a hospital is?" Tino asked.

"Who would we ask? No one's here." Ludwig commented.

"That guy over there." he said pointing out someone walking their dog down the road toward the gas station.

"Yeah, that sounds good." he said, quickening his pace in the guys direction, we all followed behind.

The guy walking his dog turned out to be a boy, and he didn't see us coming

Ludwig called across the street, "Excuse me, where is the closest hospital?"

The boy jumped, looking around, then he saw us. "What happened?" He said, running across the street, which seemed difficult since he was not in the best shape.

"We think he was hit on the head, he has lost a lot of blood, he's just sleeping now, but we don't know what damage has been done." he said, "Do you know where the closest hospital is?"

"I don't know were any hospitals are, but I know that it would cost a lot of money to go to one. I'm Alfred by the way, and we just got some medical supplies in this morning so follow me." then he gestured to us to follow him.

We were heading toward the boarded up gas station, and I hoped he wasn't lying. He didn't look like he was lying though; he looked like he was worried for Panda.

When we got inside the gas station, I was met with the opposite of my expectations. I thought it would be a gang of raggedy mean looking guys sitting on old chairs in a dusty dark damp room with broken glass and trash all around. Maybe I was over-doing the scary imagine in my head, but that's what I thought.

What it actually looked like was a carpeted living room with a long dining table. There were no dust or spider webs. It was not cold and damp it was bright and warm. I hadn't noticed how cold it was outside until now. This made my attention go back to Panda, Where was this medical supplies? Did someone here know how to use it? Where is that person?

I looked around and I saw the boy rush down the stairs and say something I couldn't hear, then a bunch of shuffling and he came back up followed by a bunch of guys. I began to count, one, two, three, four, five guys came up and they closed the door. That was a lot of guys. I feel odd being the only girl now.

Ludwig put Panda down on a cream colored sheet the boy had laid out on a couch. I knelt beside him. He opened up a box with a red plus sign on the front and seemed to be searching for something. I guess he is the doctor. Then when he found what he was looking for he went to work inspecting the wound. When we all finally stopped watching the "doctor" bandage him up, Ludwig spoke.

"Hello, I'm Ludwig. These are my friends Berwald, Tino, and Felicia." He said, pointing to us as he said our names, "Felicia and I found this boy and we tried to help his wounds, but I don't think know enough about this type injury. Today day we found Berwald and Tino and we asked them if they knew where a hospital was. All they knew was that the closest town was this one. When we arrived we saw Alfred walking his dog, and asked him where to find a hospital. He told us that it would be too expensive, and he didn't know where one was anyways. That's how we ended up here."

A tall scary looking man step forward, "Hello Ludwig, I'm Ivan. This is my boyfriend Yao,"

As he said that, his face turned pink, but he didn't say anything but, "What's the name of the injured boy?"

"We don't know that, but I've been calling him Panda." I said

"Why?" Yao asked, directing his question to Ludwig.

"Because she looks like and owl when he opens his eyes." I said before I could stop myself, oh well making a fool of my self again.

"Alright then." Ivan said, moving on, "Yao is the one who owns this place and let all of us stay here."

"This is Arthur", Ivan pointed to a guy in black pj pants and an old British flag shirt, "and that's Peter behind him." Peter tried to hold Arthurs hand, but Arthur shook it off.

"That's Francis." A French looking guy with blonde hair waved at me, then sat down on the couch. This reminded me that we were all standing up, which seemed silly because of the table and couches, but we continued to stand. Now that everyone was introduced, no one was saying anything. It was kind of awkward.

"So who wants breakfast? I'll cook." Francis said, breaking the silence.

There was a bunch of nods and people started moving, but before they could get far, a guy with white hair and red eyes slammed open the door saying, "Heck yeah I'm starving!"

Then I saw Ludwig open his eyes wide, "Gilbert?"

"Bruder?"


	14. Chapter 14

I'm sorry it took so long to update! I lost my computer charger and only got it back to day. I left it at a house I babysat at last weekend (and they found it in the living room tissue box :/ ) so forgive me for not giving you guys this chapter after my little cliff hanger back in the last chapter... that was not intentional

anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter:14! :)

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Everyone froze as I starred at my brother, "Is-is that you? Ludwig?" He took a few large steps and wrapped his arms around me. I was in shock. I left home so long ago, but I was sure we'd never see each other again! Why doesn't he hate me for abandoning him and the family?

"It's me!" He said, trying to hold back tears, "When dad said you were gone I thought I'd never see you again! Have you been here the whole time?"

"No, I spent some time lost back in the woods, but I found this place eventually."

Our reunion was interrupted by Yao, "You two are brothers?"

"Ja." We said in unison, and smiled. My eyes flickered for the first time away from Ludi's face to a girl in the crowd I didn't recognize who looked the most shocked.

"Who else came with you?" I asked, mainly asking about the jaw-dropped girl, but brother introduced two guys and a sick boy first.

"And this is Felicia." He said, as if that was all he could say about her.

"Are you guys dating?" I questioned, it seemed like they were, but they both turned red and stumbeled over there words.

"Shall we get eating Ami's?" Francis interjected, and everyone nodded, and Alfred even cheered.

Then everyone started moving around at once. Someone got more chairs and added them to a card table that was put next to the long wooden one. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood around watching people get out plates and forks and drinks. I saw that Yao was teaching Francis something about making an omelet, saying, "The key here is to use chopsticks..." I didn't hear the rest but I didn't understand why he would need chopsticks.

I looked around and saw that Ludwig had sat down beside Felicia but they weren't talking. I took the seat beside Mattie.

I didn't know what to do, so I decided to introduce myself, "Hi, I'm Gil the awesome."

"Hello, I'm Felicia." She replied.

"Awesome, well, Felicia, if you haven't noticed there aren't many girls around here but Mattie, my girlfriend, so I hope you can be friends!" Now I was making Mattie blush, but Felicia just smiled at her.

"Hi Mattie! I'm so glad there's another girl here! Why is it that it's just one girls here?"

"Well first Gil came here and started living here when it was just an abandoned gas station. Then Yao came here he said he could stay, because this place is actualy his. Then the rest of the guys ended up here over time. And basically because a guy owned it, he let other guys stay, then when I met Gil, I decided to run away, kind of, and live here, but Yao let me stay because Gil was here the longest or something."

"So all of you ran away from home?" Felicia asked.

"Yup, I guess." she said.

"So how long have you been here?" she asked.

"Um, I just got here two days ago actually."

"Oh, that's not very long then... how long did you know Gilbert before you decided to run away with him?"

"Well, um, I just met him on the side of the road here, and we talked, and he seemed just as lonely and friendless as I felt, so I decided on the spot to stay here, that was two days ago as well..."

"So you just decided to go live with a bunch of strange guys in an abandoned gas station because he seemed lonely?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"That's brave." she said, and she looked like she truly meant it. That made me wonder. Was Mattie scarred to live with me? What about now? What if she is still uncomfortable surrounded by so many guys?

"What happened with you?" Mattie asked, probably to change the subject.

"Well I'm sort of like you, Ludwig lives-lived- down the road from me, and he was my only good thing in my life, my only real friend, but I didn't think he thought of me as a friend, just merely someone to walk with to the bus. Then a few days ago, I got.. in some trouble. He came to my house looking for me, but I was just about to run away, and so he came along with me."Felicia told her with a sigh.

"How was me walking with you to the bus the only good thing in your life?" Ludwig asked, I didn't realized he had been listening, he wasn't supposed to hear that, too late now.

"Umm, well you talked to me, and always waited for me instead of going ahead and... I don't know..." she said.

"I'm sure you had other friends." Ludwig said, being the practical person I remember him to be.

"No, actually, I didn't. The other people weren't really my friends, they were just acting like they were."

"Really?" he said not believing her.

"Really, really."

"How did you guys not talk about this before?" Alfred said setting down a cheese omelet diagonal from Mattie and me.

"Well they only ran away yesterday." I noted.

"Alright, but still you could have said it any morning you felt like the rest of the year." he said between bites.

"I know..." Felicia said.

"And who did you have before you moved into town?" Ludwig asked her.

"Nothing." she said, staring at her omelet.

I noticed that everyone had fallen silent. After a few minutes of awkward silence people resumed eating and then talking and eventually people were back to their normal loud selves, I wanted to talk more to Ludwig, but he and Felicia had stayed quiet.


	15. Chapter 15

I was looking though some of my past chapters today, and I fixed a bunch of mess ups. (Especially chapter 13) I'm so sorry about all the name mix-ups that I did! I'll try to do much more editing for future chapters

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Chapter 15: Mattie's pov

Yao, of course, decided to let them stay here with us. I was okay with this because it meant I got to have a friend that is a girl. But he main problem was where they were going to stay. Sadly the answer happened to include more cleaning.

Now all of us are clearing out places I didn't even knew existed so the new people can have rooms. I had no idea how big this place was before now! We have seven rooms and two bathrooms. We have four doors from the main basement room. One is in the far left hand corner and leads to the second garage. The other two go to the other basement rooms. Then there is an attic that has a pull down later to the first floor. Francis, for some reason, decided to do some work and create a sleeping plan so everyone knows where to sleep.

He put up this list in the den for us to see:

Attic: Yao & Ivan

First floor: Arthur & Peter

Garage one: Gilbert & Mattie

Garage two: Ludwig & Felicia

Basement room one(the den): Alfred & Panda

Basement room two: Tino & Berwald

Basement room three: Francis

I noticed how he was the only one who gets his own room. That must have been why he made the list in the first place. I was of course still in the same room with Gilbert but now Yao and Ivan had there own room too, meaning they're relationship might become closer, and they might become like they are actually dating.

I was putting the cleaning supplies away when Gilbert pops up behind me, "Hey, I found something awesome I want to learn about in your text books." He must have been looking through the books I we brought back instead of cleaning.

I glance over at him and see he's hold up my science book, "Science?"

"Not just science in general, Chemistry." He said with a grin. I sigh and smile back walking to our room and flopping down on the couch. I'm just so tired of all the new stuff in my life, it'll be good to have a break and do something from my past.

"What about Chemistry do you like?" I ask, wondering what chapter I should start with as I flipped through the book.

"Blowing up stuff sounds cool." He took the book from my hands and searched the pages until he found a picture of the world war three bombs going off that were taken by satellites in space.

"Well we'd have to start from the basics, like the periodic table and maybe the Lewis dots." I said. I hope that he's not disappointed that he's not going to be able to blow anything up for real. I can teach him things from the book, but we don't have any lab equipment here.

I opened up to the Periodic table, and handed it to him, "This is the periodic table? What's all the letters for? Why is it in such a weird shape? Wouldn't it be easier to put it in a square shape?"

"Um, I think I'll have to a bit more explaining before I can answer those…" Maybe teaching is going to be harder than I thought. That doesn't mean I'll give up though, so I just started talking.

I talked for a long time until I was able to explain his first questions and the questions he got from that. I noticed that he was getting a bit bored.

"Hey, do you want to get some lunch?" I asked, and he didn't do what he has done before.

He fidgeted and looked away, "We can eat later right?"

"Yeah, I guess…", then it hit me, he was just avoiding his brother. Ludwig was pretty involved in the cleaning, and Gilbert wasn't, now this. Why would he do that?

"Are you, perhaps, avoiding someone?" I asked, hoping he'd reply. Yet his actions showed that I was right, "Why?"

He sighed deeply, "I don't think he really wants to se me…" he said.

"What do you mean? I'm sure he's dying to talk to you."

"Maybe, but probably not. I was the oldest child of our house hold. One day my day sat me down, and told me that … he wanted me to go out and get a job and stop going to school. I was only in fifth grade then, and I didn't want to work." He said, then paused before continuing in a lower tone, "I told him I wouldn't get a job, that I would stay in school and that there was nothing he could do about it. The next day I ran away, leaving my family to starve." He put his head in his hands.

This boyfriend of mine, does he ever run out of troubles? So that was how he ended up here, and why he wanted to learn so much… But obviously his family didn't starve because Ludwig is here.

"It's alright, Ludwig is still alive isn't he? He didn't starve! You need to learn what happened to him more than you need to learn chemistry! Go talk to him, right now, go!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Gilbert's pov

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I know I have to speak first. I really do, but my mouth is staying clamped shut in protest anyway. I'm sitting across from my brother in his newly set up other garage room. We should be talking, I promised Mattie I'd talk!

"Ludi-" I began, he simply lifted a eyebrow slightly, "I'm sorry I left you… and the rest of the family."

"It's okay, as long as you're safe." he said, but I could see he was holding back his emotions like he did when we were younger.

"Did you miss me?" I asked, almost as a joke, while being deadly serious.

"Of course!" he said loudly, then his volume subsided, "But I wish you had said goodbye." he admitted.

"I'm sorry." there was a brief period of silence after the second apology

"Why did you leave?" Ludwig asked into the silence.

"Father, he wanted me to go to work." I saw brothers eye's widen, "He said they didn't have enough money to support the family with only two people working. I just didn't want to work the rest of my life away."

"You were only in 5th grade- 11 years old!"

"I know. Long after I ran away, I assumed that you must have had to take my place and go work, but from your reaction, I guess not." I sighed. At least he didn't have to work away his days either.

"I didn't why you ran away, but I knew it had something to do with father."

"How did you know? Was he upset?" I can easily imagine the hulking figure of my father, even to this day, beating my little brother for letting me escape from our room. It had haunted many nightmares of my past.

"I knew because mother was devastated for weeks, where father seemed to have known that you'd been gone the next morning. I thought that maybe, maybe, he told you to leave or something…"

"Well how did you have enough money to live if neither of us was working?" I questioned.

"I'm not sure. I didn't know that we were running out of money at all. After you left was probably the time we had the most money that I can remember."

I fell silent. I just had a horrible idea that had never occurred to me before now, "What if he just wanted to get rid of me? He could have just said that he wanted me to go to work so he didn't have to see me anymore, but when I ran… he just got more than he wished for."

"No! He wouldn't have done something like that… he couldn't have."

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed, but I didn't believe my own words.

Our conversation was basically over, but I'm sure we'd have continued talking about unimportant matters for a while except we were interrupted by barking from outside. We heard the sounds of Alfred going up the stairs and out the door. Others followed, and so did we.

Outside was cold even for the fall and the sky was overcast. Tony, the dog was barking at a tree. Everyone stood around staring and I didn't get what was so important. Then I saw it- the writing on the pavement.

Across the parking lot was an elaborate chalk message, more than anyone would normally write. I be can too read:

_To 13_

_Who I am is not important. What is important to you is what happened to a lot of others including myself, and now you. To fully understand this situation, I must first explain what you already know. There was a war. The government is falling. No one is getting helped. The rich are ignoring the poor. The poor are getting poorer. This area of the world is all that is left to the human race. You know this to be true._

_Now I will change your point of view, and tell you the truth. The Media, the news, is lying. The government has long past been destroyed. There are more people than we are told, but there is almost no one left in the far west that is free. The rich are getting richer not because they have been helping the government get better, but because they have taken the government into their own hands. They have gone into past, and are enslaving people once again. Some of these enslaved people are being sold-like I was._

_Now there is one group of the enslaved that overthrew their owner and have started up a secret group. They have been able to find teens who are young and fit that wouldn't be missed if they disappeared. They want to be the new government and I have joined them. I hope you are honored that you were chosen for such an important roll in humanities future._

_You will be visited by us when you are ready._

_From 19-1_

I read it and re-read it. I saw Arthur writing it down and I saw Tino and Berwald go back inside. Then it began to rain and all chalk was washed away with in the matter of minutes. When it was all gone I returned inside, but my mind was still with the letter.

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This chapter was going to be two separate chapters, but the first part wasn't long enough to be a full chapter, so I added on some from the next... if kind of seems like an odd switch to me but I hope it's fine :)


	17. Chapter 17

This chapter has a lot of information in it! If you have any questions about it, please ask because I will explain it more if you want me too :)

Also this is from Alfred's pov because I felt like switching it up...

Enjoy!

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ch 17:

"I counted the number of people living here: Ivan, Yao, Francis, Arthur, Peter, Gilbert, Mattie, Ludwig, Felicia, the boy that came with them, Berwald, Tino and I. That's thirteen. The number the letter said it was to. But we don't know what 19-1 means." I said.

"Well it said that who they are isn't important." Gilbert pointed out from his seat in the crowd. We all had gatherd down in the den to talk about "The Letter".

"All that really means is that they want to remain anonymous." Ludwig said.

"Well what does "When you're ready" mean?" Peter asked.

"We don't really know." I said.

"Well we have some things to consider." Francis said.

"What are you talking about Frog?" Arthur asked.

"Well we don't even know if we're on their side yet." he said, "They told us all these bad things, but we have no proof that any of it is true."

"I might be able to provide some information." Ludwig interrupted as I was about to speak, he's not the only one with information.

"The reason Felicia and I left was because of this. She had a friend that hacked her parents computer and learned too many things about what's going on. Things like how all of our news is all a lie and that there might not be a west coast."

"Well there is a West coast." Arthur muttered, "I think it's about time that I say something-why I came here. My parents worked for the newspaper, but they wanted to do real reporting. They went out one day saying that they were going to do a report on something important, my mom even brought along her best friend, but they never came back."

He paused to take a deep breath, "All I got was a message written in chalk on my drive-way telling me to run away. Of course when I ran I had no where to go, and ended up at Peter's house-he decided to run with me."

Everyone was silent until Ivan spoke, "I had a chalk message once before. It told me my _father_ was dead and I was free to leave… but not stay." the way he said _father_ was odd, but I didn't comment of it.

"I had no idea the chalked writer would come back, or that they had left messages for others." Arthur said instead, and Ivan nodded.

"I also knew there must be more than what we were told." Francis said, "Many of the foods I cooked could never have been grown in our climate. There has to be people on other continents."

I decided it was my turn to speak, "I used to volunteer at the Fire Department. They would put out fires, like you would think, but only for those who worked at the company. That's when I found out that the Fire department wasn't a department in the government, it was in the company. One day I got a call from someone who didn't work for them, and three people were badly hurt and two people died."

I went quiet, I hated remembering this, "I had no way to help them. I just had to sit in the department office knowing they were suffering and I could do nothing about it. Later I found out that the ones who got hurt couldn't got to the hospital for the same reason."

"Later something similar happened, but when I saved them the Fire Department told me I couldn't volunteer anymore. When I left, on the parking lot of the station, I saw a message written in chalk saying, "Leave and don't come back". I assumed that it was the Firemen that wrote it. I guess not." Tony came over to me after I was done talking and nuzzled me. It's like he knows how sad I am.

"Berwald and I have something to share." Tino announced, "Um about Five years ago," he stopped to clear his throat, he looked nervous, "I was living with my parents and my brothers and sisters. We were really really poor. I went to go ask my dad something when, um, when I found him he was talking to someone already. I thought I'd just wait until they were done… thats when I over heard their conversation. They were making a deal. The man talking to my father said he needed a replacement for the boy he was supposed to sell. My father said… he could take me… for free."

He looked almost in tears, but he kept going, "He turned around the corner, grabbed me, and handed me over to the man. I was thrown in a van with a few other kids by the mans son-Berwald. The entire drive took a two days. Along the way we would get more kids thrown on."

"We arrived at a huge factory in the end and we were unloaded off. I was last to leave and when Berwald saw me… he closed the door. I never went in that factory. About an hour later Berwald came out again but this time running. He grabbed me and we ran ingot he forest. We've been running ever since."

Tino was crying now, "Berwald told me later that they accused him of stealing from the company. I guess he's given a certain amount of money to pay parents for their kids… One family took the money, but the kid wasn't in his room, so they had to find a replacement like me." he looked like he was done crying, but also done talking.

"Wow. I wish I had some thing to add. But I don't. You all know so much about this kind of stuff, and these people." Gilbert remarked, probably feeling left out.

"But of course they know a lot more about us. Don't you think it's strange we all ended up in the same place? I don't think it's coincidence." I said, the wheels in my head turning, "They could have been planing all of this from the start! For all 13 of us to end up here at he Hetalia hideout."

"I think we should call it Hetalia Headquarters again. It sounds more official." Gilbert said.

"Right, Hetalia Headquarters." I confirmed .

"And just because a lot of it could have been planed to we end up here, doesn't mean we should be against them." Gilbert added.

"We defiantly have reason enough to join their cause." Ludwig said.

"Defiantly." Arthur agreed.

"So now we wait." I said.


	18. Chapter 18

I'm sorry I'm getting bad at updating lately! I have a lot going on, and my writing time keeps being pushed back, my apologies

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Ch 18: Mattie's pov

The first day or two of waiting went by and everyone did practically nothing but discuss our lives and interactions with the chalk writer, or 19-1, who we assumed wrote all of our letters. We wondered about when they would come to get us, and were we would go when they did. Even the original members of Hetalia Headquarters skipped out on their money collecting duties to discuss these things.

While almost everyone was doing that, I went back to my house a few more times to get supplies throughout Sunday. I was able to get more than before because Ivan and Yao went along with me. I guess they weren't as into talking about the chalk writer as everyone else because they volunteered to help me. I would have had to make a lot of trips if it weren't for them.

The maid helped us put together boxes of things for us to bring back. For Gilbert a separate box was put together with a bunch of school books, note books and pencils. For everyone else more food, ingredients, utensils and toiletries were boxed up. Even some more of my clothes were packed up in a box and brought back to the head quarters.

Then, when I was all stocked up by the first run, we went back to get the left overs boxes. This time I had to face the fact that I was defiantly leaving, and I probably couldn't come back to visit. I said my good byes to my maid, Mrs. Smith and thanked her for everything as much as I could.

When I got back it was 10 pm and I was so tired that I just fell over in my bed and went to sleep. The next morning I was awoken by my knowledge thirsty boyfriend. He begged me to teaching him some chemistry, because it was monday after all.

I stayed try to my word of teaching him so, for that week, we went over the periodic table. I taught him about which ones were metals or non metals or transition metals. I drew up a periodic table for him to label and color code to remember which ones are which.

Then the next day I taught him about what was made up of those elements. We looked through the book and tried to find things around our room and the den that had certain elements in them.

I decided to make it more like a class on the third day. I assigned him a project. Gil had to pick an element to research and make a poster about it. I know I could have done better with thinking up a project, but it works.

That day was wednesday and we were able to get the boy who was sick to wake up. He had sleep for a really long time, and Alfred said it was because he was healing. When the boy woke up, we got a bit of a surprise. he told us that he didn't know anything about himself; he had amnesia. He was confused for a while about what was going on, but he did eventually remember one thing. His name was Kiku Honda.

Now it's the day on Thursday and Gilbert lay out on the floor making his project. There were a couple other people in the room, but they were doing there own thing. I felt kind of bored, but that changed when Felicia and Kiku came down stairs and me something.

"Hey, Mattie, look at this." Felicia say pointing to the back of Kiku's hand. On the back of his hand was this line of numbers: 53-95-19-1.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We don't know. It's been on his hand since he got here. I thought it might be pen, but ti doesn't wash off. Also, if you look closely you can see it looks like type not hand writing. It looks like it must be some kind of tattoo." Felicia said.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"We don't know. We showed it to Arthur and Peter, but they didn't know what to make of it. Ivan suggested it could be a phone number, but when we called it, it wasn't in use." Felicia told me.

"Do you have any Idea's?" Kiku asked.

"Well, it's the right number of digits to be a phone number." I pondered.

"But the dashes are in a weird spot for one." Felicia pointed out. "Maybe a password?"

"Or a code." Kiku suggested.

Then I noticed the last digits, "19-1. Why does th-" I began to ask.

"Those were the numbers that the lester said it was "from" right?" Alfred said.

"Yeah, but it could be coincidence." Felicia said.

"Maybe, but I think that if it happens to us, it's doubtful."

"What about the other numbers?" Kiku asked, but he was interrupted by Gilbert's announcement of "I'm done with my project!"

I looked over at the extra large piece of paper he was holding up for everyone in the den to see. Gil picked Potassium as his element. The majority of his poster is covered with a drawing of a banana labeled "Awesome" and the rest is filled in by a few facts around it, such as it's element symbol, atomic number and atomic weight. I guess I'll have to go easy with the grading of this assignment…

My eyes focused on the element symbol. In chemistry, the "symbol" is actually just letters. Potassium's symbol is K, and it's atomic number is 19. I jumped out of my chair and ran to my room to get the chemistry book.

"Mattie? Where are you going?" My boyfriend called after me, but I was on a mission. I think I just found something very important. I found the book opened to the periodic table. I went through the number from Kiku's hand.

53-I. 95-Am. 19-K. 1-H. I am KH. I am Kiku Honda. I am 19-1.


	19. Chapter 19

ch 19:Alfred's pov

I gaped at the periodic table over Mattie's shoulder while my mind gears worked on what we just discovered. Kiku, the poor boy with amnesia, is also the secret, chalk writer who invited us to join his forces.

Every one took their time to look over the periodic table and Kiku's arm to make sure they were getting this right. Then Kiku was bombarded with questions about why he didn't say anything or what he knows of this. I could see his eyes from across the room that told me that he didn't know anything.

"Hey! He doesn't know anything!" I yelled, but they didn't listen, "HEY!" I shouted again, this time they listened.

"I've been taking care of him since he got here, and he doesn't know anything. He was unconscious when the chalk message appeared anyway. He might have had something to do with it, but he doesn't know anything no, so leave him be for gods sake." I said then sighed as I pushed through the crowd, grabbed Kiku's arm and pulled him out of that room and all the way upstairs.

Kiku went over to the wall and leaned against it, arms crossed and staring at the floor, "I don't know anything." he mumbled.

"I know." I said. I tried to take a step forward and ask another question, but he turned away from me so I went to look out the window. I froze, then turned toward him with wide eyes.

"There's another message." I said, and he rushed over to the window to see that I was right before rushing down stairs to tell everyone. When he did that, I went out side to read the message.

To: 13

You have discovered an important piece of the puzzle, but you have only applied it to half the equation. Also, there is still more to learn from your friends. A few have not told the complete truth. You will be ready when they speak- but we cannot wait that long. We will get you within the next 24 hours. Be Prepared.

From: HK


	20. Chapter 20

So I have good news and bad news. the good doesn't makes sense unit you hear the bad, so here I go:

Bad news:School's almost over, and I'm studying for finals and have lots of things going on. I also will either be working or on a cross country road trip the entire summer. That means I have no time to write. My updates are already crappy because of this, an dI'm sorry. Also, I have been going to the doctors for a bunch of things. I have flat feet and scoliosis they are trying to fix. Then my doctors are saying I have ADD Dislexia stuff as well. (There are a few others, but they're boring)

Good news: I'm not stopping the story, only putting it on hiatus it until september. I'll either write a part two or a book two which will probably be a lot more action and plot. Also, if you don't want me to continue the story that's fine too, Whatever you guys want.

So... I'm sorry I'm a disappointment and stuff... I hope it was a good story anyway :) thanks for reading it


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